I did enjoy the reading of this children’s fantasy story. It is gripping and instructive and, if your heart is teachable, revelatory too. By the medium of a science fiction fantasy the well-known author unfolds spiritual lessons which both children and adults need to know. The book was first published in 1962. Publishers repeatedly rejected it on grounds that it was inappropriate for children. It deals mainly with the problem of evil and the way in which it is overcome. When at last a publisher accepted the manuscript of the book it became winner of the Newbury Medal. The particular edition listed above includes an essay about the real life science behind the fantasy. Some of the scientific facts on which the book is based have only been coming to light in the last forty years or so. Parents desiring to sit and read a book to and with their children could scarcely do better than to avail themselves of this book among others. There are three sequels to “A Wrinkle in Time” entitled “A Swiftly Tilting Planet”, “A Wind in the Door” and “Many Waters”. Each of them presents elements of Christian truth through the medium of the children’s story. The author has been a prolific writer and all she writes is from a Christian perspective. Christian parents should be exercising themselves diligently to make sure that their children are reading literature conveying the truths of God. To read books aloud along with your children engages the use of imagination as the stories are told. The imagination is not engaged when children simply watch a video or a movie. There is no need, all is portrayed on the screen. How much better that parents and children sit together around a good book and enjoy the story, sometimes almost unconsciously embrace the message conveyed in it and revel in each other’s company?
