Book Title: A Wind in the Door

Author: Madeline L'Engle

Publish Date: 1973
Publisher: Dell Publishing Company

Series: A Wrinkle in Time series #2

A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle

Suggested Grade: 9th grade and up

Suggested Format: Independent reading

Synopsis: 

Meg and Calvin are back with some strange new friends. Blanjey, a Teacher, Proginoskes, a cherubim, and Sporos, a farandole, team up to face three challenges to save Charles Wallace. Charles Wallace is dying from "mitochondritis," a syndrome that his mother has only begun to understand using her new scientific equipment. 

Full of adventure, the team travel from the mundane of school to the outer cosmos and back to Earth in the form of inhabitants of Charles Wallace's mitochondria. How can an enemy that is nothing be defeated? And why is it attacking Charles Wallace?

Teacher's Notes: 

This is a much more difficult read than A Wrinkle in Time. An excellently written fantasy, it engulfs the reader in the world of the macrocosmic and microcosmic. Full of scientific jargon and settings, this story is not for the general casual reader. I would not recommend this book for anyone until at least High School, and even some college students will have difficulty with it. It does offer a wonderful glimpse into the mind of L'Engle's fundamental understandings of being and voids, and the importance of naming and living completely.

Overall: 7/10

How I Got the Book: Purchased for my collection

Suggested Interests: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction YA Book Reviews

8:45 AM

Book Title: A Wrinkle in Time

Author: Madeline L'Engle

Publish Date: 1962
Publisher: Dell Publishing Company

Series: A Wrinkle in Time series #1

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

Awards: Newbery Winner

Suggested Grade: 5th, 6th, 7th grade and up

Suggested Format: Whole class, Independent reading, Small group

Synopsis: 
Meg Murray feels like a misfit. No one at school understands her, her teachers think she's dumb, her peers think she's weird, and to top it all off, the adults are all whispering behind her back that her dad has run off. It's true, Meg's dad is missing. But he was working on a super-secret project as a physicist, and Meg just knows he's going to return soon. And then there's Charles Wallace, her genius little brother who won't talk around anyone but family. Meg isn't sure how she is going to make it through school until one wild and stormy night when Charles Wallace introduces her to Mrs. Whatsit. 
Meg is thrown into a whirlwind of events where she meets Calvin, a student a few grades ahead of her at school, three "stars," Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, and is tessered across the universe in search of her father. With the help of her brother and her new friends, Meg must figure out how to use the wrinkles in time and her own uniqueness to save her father.

Teacher's Notes: 
I haven't put this book down since I was in 5th grade! (I read it at least once a year, sometimes more) I wholly recommend it for anyone, including adults! The concepts are a bit tricky, so I would suggest 5th grade unless the reader has a voracious vocabulary. Well, written, creative, positive, and perfectly balanced, this is a definite 10/10.


Overall: 10/10

How I Got the Book: Purchased for my collection

Suggested Interests: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction YA Book Reviews

6:00 AM