On a whim, I decided to state my views on that perennial children's literary staple,
A Wrinkle in Time, and in thinking over, I realized how weird it is. The main characters meet winged centaurs; travel in time, space, and other dimensions; visit alien dictatorships run by godlike beings, and have metaphor after metaphor thrown their way. This book was as frightening, and emotionally taxing as all get out when I was 6 or so, especially near the end, but I remember really enjoying all the cosmic concepts set up during it, and strongly disliking the sort of Christ-like child prodigy MacGuffin character Charles Wallace.
Now looking back on it, I didn't realize how insanely creative it was, and how well developed all the characters, even Charles Wallace are. The sequels,
A Wind in the Door,
Many Waters, and
A Swiftly Tilting Planet are okay, I suppose, and introduce interesting ideas, including the Echthroi, the strange alien worlds hidden inside Charles Wallace's mitochondria, and a heavy dose of magic, but they don't measure up to the sheer inventiveness and energy of the original. A modern classic.
Grade: A
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