A Wrinkle In Time

A Wrinkle in Time

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade science fiction/fantasy
• Originally Published: 1962
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 740L; grades 6-8
• Structure/Length: 12 chapters; approx. 256 pages; 6 hours and 27 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: With the help of three odd supernatural beings, young Meg Murry undertakes a journey of time and space to try to find her missing father.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: References to the Christian Bible

Madeleine L’Engle, Author

• Bio: 1918-2007; American writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry; loved writing and reading as a child; attended a private school in Switzerland, where imagining stories helped to alleviate loneliness; attended Smith College; worked as a writer in New York City theater before becoming a novelist; authored four sequels to A Wrinkle in Time (The Time Quintet)
• Other Works: The Arm of the Starfish (1965); A Wind in the Door (1973); A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978)
• Awards: Newbery Medal (1963); Sequoyah Book Award (1965); Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1965)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• “Like” and “Equal” Are Not the Same Thing
• It’s Not What Things Look Like; It’s What They Are Like
• Only You Can Rescue Yourself

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the concept of time, time travel, and tesseracts as significant drivers of the plot in A Wrinkle in Time. 
• Analyze short paired texts and other resources to make connections via the novel's themes of Perception Versus Reality and Likeness Versus Equality. 
• Create an original work that describes an abstract or concrete noun using only four of the five senses.
• Analyze and evaluate the novel's characters, motifs, and themes to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Meg's character, the author's moral and perceived structure of the universe, and other topics.