By Madeleine L'Engle
It is a dark and stormy night. Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and their mother are in the kitchen for a midnight snack when a most disturbing visitor arrives.
"Wild nights are my glory." the unearthly stranger tells them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then i'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way there is such a thing as a tesseract."
Meg's father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil that will try to stop them?
- excerpt from the back page
What are the critics saying?
"It has the general appearance of being science fiction, but it is not....There is mystery, mysticism, a feeling of indefinable, brooding horror....[This book] is original, different and exciting"
-Saturday review
This is an awesome adventure story because it is different from the classic stories. Meg is the best heroine i have seen in a novel becasue she is so much like a normal person, it makes me feel that if she can win so can I. She is just a plain, tempermental yet brilliant, and self doubting girl. Its great because through the novel the reader can watch her grow as a person and learn that love is truly the answer. Thi book made me wonder if there really was life on other planets. If you liked this book try reading the sequels:
A Wind in the door- A story about how Meg and a dragon save Charles Wallace and the Universe
A Swiftly Tilting Planet- A story where with Meg's help Charles Wallace goes back in time to try and prevent a dead world takeover.
Many Waters- The Story of how Sandy's and Denny's have their own adventure back in biblical days.
What is a tesseract?
In the novel Meg and her friends travel using a tesseract(a fifth dimension). Its confusing but this is how one of her guides explain it.
The first dimension is a straight line------
The secong dimension is a flat square
The third dimension is a 3-D square
The fourth dimension is when you square the 3-D square
Finally a fifth dimension is a square of th fourth..and that is a tesseract!!!
YIKES!!