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juushikaTitle: A Wrinkle in Time
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Published: New York: Dell Publishing, 1962
Pages: 190
Total pages: 10564
Text number: 32
Read for: a read-aloud text with Devon.
In brief: Wrinkle in Time is a reread and was a good book to revisit and to read aloud. Devon and I read books aloud to give us some time together and a break from everything else, making this text, which contains one of my favorite romances and has a lovely sense of wonder, a good choice for togetherness and distraction. What can I say? It's a classic, true children's classic and Newbery Award-winner that I suppose I will always have a fondness for.
Adult readers must remember that the primary audience of this text is children and young adults—that doesn't decrease the value of the text, but it does change its writing style and, to some extent, its purpose. This isn't a hard book to read (except the quotes in various languages can be tricky to read aloud) or follow, but when it comes to interpretation the book remains complex, dynamic, and interesting even for adults. Amazing, I know, but there can be depth even without tricky writing or adult themes.
The advantage to a children's book like this, on the other hand, is the sense of wonder that comes par for the course. I don't like fantasy but I love beauty, magic, and the willingness to expand boundaries that this text has to offer. There's just enough pointing to science to base it in reality, even if it's a reality we don't understand, and just enough flying on the back of a pegasus-centaur to make it truly beautiful and remarkable.
Wrinkle is Time is simple, beautiful, short, and wonderful, and while not a must-read for adults I consider it a part of experiencing wonder, childhood, and L'Engle's capable writing. Anyway, it's only 200 pages long. There's no reason not to read it (and the rest of the series, which have an even stronger and more detailed sense of this science-based wonder and magic) and I enjoyed coming back to it with Devon.
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Published: New York: Dell Publishing, 1962
Pages: 190
Total pages: 10564
Text number: 32
Read for: a read-aloud text with Devon.
In brief: Wrinkle in Time is a reread and was a good book to revisit and to read aloud. Devon and I read books aloud to give us some time together and a break from everything else, making this text, which contains one of my favorite romances and has a lovely sense of wonder, a good choice for togetherness and distraction. What can I say? It's a classic, true children's classic and Newbery Award-winner that I suppose I will always have a fondness for.
Adult readers must remember that the primary audience of this text is children and young adults—that doesn't decrease the value of the text, but it does change its writing style and, to some extent, its purpose. This isn't a hard book to read (except the quotes in various languages can be tricky to read aloud) or follow, but when it comes to interpretation the book remains complex, dynamic, and interesting even for adults. Amazing, I know, but there can be depth even without tricky writing or adult themes.
The advantage to a children's book like this, on the other hand, is the sense of wonder that comes par for the course. I don't like fantasy but I love beauty, magic, and the willingness to expand boundaries that this text has to offer. There's just enough pointing to science to base it in reality, even if it's a reality we don't understand, and just enough flying on the back of a pegasus-centaur to make it truly beautiful and remarkable.
Wrinkle is Time is simple, beautiful, short, and wonderful, and while not a must-read for adults I consider it a part of experiencing wonder, childhood, and L'Engle's capable writing. Anyway, it's only 200 pages long. There's no reason not to read it (and the rest of the series, which have an even stronger and more detailed sense of this science-based wonder and magic) and I enjoyed coming back to it with Devon.
