E05
Book X SBA
Monday November 28, 2011
Text: Mike Lau
Photos: iclipart.com
Out of this
world reading
In this story, a troubled
teenager gets to fulfil
her potential through an
otherworldly adventure
W hat’s it about?
MEG Murray, the protagonist of A Wrinkle in Time is a very
ordinary teenager, but in a very extraordinary family: her
youngest brother Charles Wallace is a ‘super-genius’, her
parents are brilliant scientists and her middle twin brothers
are star athletes. But the emotionally immature Meg is forced
to grow up quickly when her father suddenly disappears. A
stormy night brings the eccentric Mrs Whatsit to the Murray’s
home, and she delivers the startling news that their missing
father was working on a tesseract – a method of intergalactic
travel using worm holes – before he vanished. More amazing
still was that Dr Murray succeeded and managed to transport
himself to a world light years from Earth. The next day, Meg,
along with Charles Wallace and her hunky classmate Calvin
O’Keefe, track down Mrs Whatsit and her two equally dotty
friends Mrs Who and Mrs Which – collectively known as the
three Mrs Ws – who turn out to be angelic beings that have
the ability to tesseract.
After convincing the Mrs Ws to help, the children are
soon warping through the universe to search for Dr Murray.
Along the way they encounter new friends, who include
centaur-like beings on the planet Uriel and a medium
who uses a ‘crystal ball’ to locate the missing father. The
ensuing attempt to get Dr Murray out of the troubled planet
Camazotz is far from easy. A powerful being called IT has
punished Dr Murray for attempting to help inhabitants break
free from IT’s mind control, while the planet is surrounded
by an evil cloud called The Black Thing. Meg discovers that
the love she holds for her family is the only thing that can
set free her imprisoned father and stop IT from enslaving her
brother too.
A critical look
WITHIN its framework of familiar good-versus-evil
themes, A Wrinkle in Time conveys a significant amount of
religious allegories through its plot and characters. There
are numerous quotes from the Bible, and the peace-loving
beings on Uriel sing hymns that would not seem out of
place at your average Sunday service. The three Mrs Ws are
thought to represent guardian angels that provide guidance
for the novel’s youngest and most innocent characters as
they journey into malevolent worlds. The book’s Christian
overtones are unsurprising since its author Madeleine L’Engle
is an influential member of the United States Episcopal
Church ( 國堅公會 ). You would think this Scriptureheavy prose would annoy secularists the most, but it is
y
Vocabular
eccentric (adj) 古怪的
warp (v) 使彎曲
actually mainly staunch Christians
who have objected to A Wrinkle In
Time, accusing its author of being
too liberal by adding references to
paganism – like witches and crystal
balls. Whether you get the religion
or not, this book adds a fresh twist
to the teenage adventure genre,
with its themes of conformity
and challenging the status quo.
Explore moree
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs
Basil E Frankweiler
WHEN Claudia gets annoyed with the lack of attention she
gets from her parents, she decides to run away to teach them
a lesson. With her bratty younger brother in tow, the siblings
end up staying at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (大都會
藝術博物館), where the initial excitement soon wares thin
and she sees a mysterious yet beguiling statue whose history
demands investigating.
When You Reach Me
AN attack on Miranda’s best friend sets off a chain of events
for the sixth-grader which calls upon her great knowledge of
the streets of New York City (紐約市). Cryptic hand-written
notes keep arriving at her apartment, which gradually steers
Miranda to a very unsettling secret, while offering a chance
to save somebody’s life.
centaur (n) 半人半馬的怪物
malevolent (adj) 有惡意的
SBA Corner
Print fiction
Non-print fiction
Print non-fiction
Non-print non-fiction
Book info
Boo
Category: science fantasy
Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-10: 0140372318
Publisher: Puffin Modern Classics
Role-play activity
Imagine a world where intergalactic travel existed.
Where would you travel to and what kind of worlds
might you encounter?
In pairs, role-play Mrs Whatsit being interviewed by a
newspaper reporter. Talk about the typical work of a
guardian angel and her background.
paganism (n) 不信教
beguiling (adj) 欺騙地
!