A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time is perhaps one of the most famous and best-loved young adult fantasy novels of all time. Madeleine L'Engle frequently told the story of how she sent it to at least 26 publishers before finding a home at Farrar, Straus & Cudahy. The book went on to win the coveted Newbery Medal for "the most distinguished contribution to literature for children."

A Wrinkle in Time is the story of young Meg Murry, unhappy in school because she's smart and quick and doesn't follow rules, unhappy at home because she's not as pretty as her mother or as easy to get along with as her younger twin brothers, Dennys and Sandy. A deeper unhappiness stems from the fact that her father disappeared some years ago on a scientific mission, no one has heard from him, and the town gossips believe that he left her mother. Her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, is her favorite: an irresistibly charming combination of genius and four-year-old, perfectly happy with the community's assumption that he's a moron.

By chance, Meg runs in to Calvin O'Keefe, one of the school's most popular boys, and discovers that while the specifics are very different, his feeling of being an outcast mirrors her own. Shortly after Meg and Calvin initiate a friendship, the two of them (and Charles Wallace) meet an extraordinary trio of older women, the famous Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. Thus begins a series of interstellar adventures, in which the mettle of all three youngsters will be tested, and eventually the lives of both Meg's father and her baby brother will depend on her.

The interstellar travel takes place by means of a "tesseract," which Mrs. Who explains as a "wrinkle in time," using the example of folding a skirt so that an ant can cross a large section of it in one step.