March
03
Tags
One Day You Will by Caroline Starr Rose
Each Friday in my fifth-grade class, we were required to turn in a book report and recite a newly memorized poem. No kidding. (In my teaching days, when students told me the amount of reading I asked of them was far too hard [thirty minutes a night, if you’re curious], I’d tell them about Mrs. Chavez’s requirements. It was enough for them to realize what I expected wasn’t so crazy after all.)
I loved the recitation and reports. I was one of those kids who read several books a week and got extra credit for those that went above and beyond the requirements. But then I picked up a book called A WRINKLE IN TIME. For some reason the week got away from me, and by Thursday afternoon I had a lot of work to do. I spent most of the day with a book I found weird and confusing. It kind of gave me the creeps (though I can’t remember why). I finished it and wrote my report, having no need to ever continue with the series.
So it’s always struck me as odd how many people adore this book. As a reader and certainly as an author I understand the universal truth that no book is for everyone. But when there’s a title so many enjoy — specifically so many authors — and I don’t feel the same way, it puzzles me.*
Then a few things happened:
- I read Rebecca Stead’s 2010 Newbery winner, WHEN YOU REACH ME, in many ways a tribute to WRINKLE.**
- The fiftieth anniversary edition was released in 2012.
- My critique partner told me it was a favorite childhood book.
- My running partner shared how special it was to her as a girl.
- Three different people recommended Madeleine L’Engle’s book on writing, WALKING ON WATER. And halfway through, I was ready to try WRINKLE again.
I picked up a Playaway version from the library and listened in while cleaning, on my solo morning runs, while waiting in the carpool line. Outside of Calvin’s occasional slang, not much else felt dated. Meg read like the kind of character I would have latched onto as a girl (not sure what was happening that Thursday back in 1985). The mystery that builds before Calvin, Meg, and Charles Wallace go to search for Mr. Murray really captured my attention. I wanted to break into song each time I heard about the planet Camazotz (because doesn’t it sound like King Arthur’s celestial home?). I loved that Meg realized that finding her father wasn’t the end of her problems, that he didn’t hold all the answers she needed, that she was the only one who could later rescue Charles Wallace, and that her love was the one advantage she had over the evil It. I appreciated it was a given that the Universe is God’s, that no matter what kind of creature lived on what kind of planet, this was a known thing.
But there were still things that didn’t fully work for me. The early portions where the children travel through space with Mrs. Whatsit I found rather dull. While I still couldn’t put my finger on the specifics, I sensed how portions of the story might have creeped out my sensitive eleven-year-old self. And when the children discover that Camazotz’s evil force is actually a overgrown, pulsing brain, I laughed out loud. This particular had escaped my memory. It felt like a creature out of the original Star Trek series, which dated the moment for me.
And yet. I’m so, so happy I gave this book a second chance. I can now join in conversations with a fuller understanding and a new appreciation. I feel like I’ve restored a small portion of my childhood. Re-reading felt like whispering to my younger self, “It’s okay if you don’t like it now. One day you will. And that will make all the difference.”
*I think it’s also fair for me to add here that as an author, I have chosen to keep mum publicly when it comes to books I don’t enjoy (with the exception being this book!). Many authors feel differently than I do, and I respect that. I’m happy to talk books that don’t work for me between friends, but putting that information out publicly doesn’t feel right. The more I read and write, the more I realize I am one small voice and one small talent. Scads and scads and scads of people have a better handle on this writing thing than I do. I recognize this in books I enjoy and in books I don’t. As for those books I’m not crazy about, it’s okay. Because they weren’t written for me. Their audience exists elsewhere.
**Rebecca had this to say about the book:
“I loved A WRINKLE IN TIME as a child. I didn’t know why I loved it, and I didn’t want to know why. I remember meeting Madeleine L’Engle once at a bookstore and just staring at her as if she were a magical person. What I love about L’Engle’s book now is how it deals with so much fragile inner-human stuff at the same time that it takes on life’s big questions. There’s something fearless about this book.”
Caroline Starr Rose is the author of MAY B. (2012) and forthcoming OVER IN THE WETLANDS (2015). She also is a former upper elementary and middle school teacher. You can find her on the internet at http://www.carolinestarrrose.com.
Nerdy Book Club 
A good post. I loved A Wrinkle in Time, but I didn’t read it until I was in 9th grade. I have retread it many times since. My own daughters didn’t really appreciate it when they read it in 6th. My feeling is that sometimes we just aren’t ready to read a book. When I was in fifth grade, I was still reading Nancy Drew. I think we encouraged many children to read above their emotional level. Right now, in my school they are encouraging first graders to read Charlotte’s Web. That has always been a third grade book. Kids need to read challenging books, but at their emotional level for full comprehension.
On the flip side, I’ve reread books I loved as a girl and found they didn’t measure up for me later. That’s okay, too. Those books weren’t meant for me at a later date.
Good post and I loved reconsidering this book even though I’ve read it several times as a reader and a teacher. I compare a book that contains nuances and subtleties to a good piece of art. It takes careful consideration and observation to see how it’s put together. Although many readers may be fine reading Wrinkle on their own, so many other readers might benefit from talking about it with other readers. I think that adds to the richness – looking at pieces of the story and talking about they contribute to the whole. For some readers, this may be the only time they’ve considered these aspects.
For me, the first couple of pages of Wrinkle were so filled with tiny puzzle pieces to think about: Why is this wonderful big dog named Fortinbras, a character from Hamlet? And how do all the details from that classic line, “it was a dark and stormy night” set up this wild story? Thanks for making me think about this book again!
You’re so right. Community can play a huge part in understanding and appreciating literature.
I so agree with you. I feel like there is a window of opportunity for some books.
I love the conversation you and Marta are having in the comments~ I agree. Some books seem destined to have the most impact if read during specific windows/times in our lives, and some are the kind that are beloved/impactful from age 8 to 80. And I love that you gave A Wrinkle in Time another read~ I think our take on a story can change as our experiences and increased sense of perspective change us.
Thank you, Jessica. I’m glad I did, too. This second read felt like a gift.
Loved this post, Caroline. As one of my high school teachers once said, every time you read a book you’re a different person.
I’m one of those people who felt “meh” about Wrinkle in Time when I read it in sixth grade, even though I could clearly see it was an Important Book. But all these years I’ve kept quiet about my reaction because so many of my friends raved about it. Perhaps I should re-read it.
If you do, Joanne, I’d love to hear what you think!
I’m glad you gave it another chance! And I enjoyed reading your thoughts here. Yes! The brain! IT! Hilarious now as adults, but I remember being scared when I read it as a kid…and those kids all bouncing balls at the same time. Creepy. And I loved it. 🙂 I also latched onto Meg, the idea of her as heroine, as coming into her own brave self. I loved, too, the concept of other worlds, other universes…other places. Anyway…I adore this book. But what really struck me about this post? How much we really do bring our own selves, our own lives into whatever we’re reading. How subjective it all is. How a really great book might find us on a really bad day or (vice versa) how really great books find us exactly when we need them. It makes me want to go back to some of those books I didn’t like when I read them the first time and see if anything’s changed…if *I’ve* changed.
Oh, I love this, that the measure of a book is more often than not a measure of ourselves — our lives, our moments. Thank you for championing WRINKLE. You’re a big part of why I read it again.
I was thinking about the brain part and It part of the story, and when I read it the first time, it didn’t seem as hokey because Star Trek had just started on the TV. When you first saw Star Trek, it was scary and amazing. We weren’t used to high tech special effects. Remembering when L’Engle wrote this makes it better.
Agreed. I suppose I had Spock’s brain on the brain. 😉
I’m with you on a lot of points here! I agree that the likes and dislikes of certain books at different ages is specific to each reader. There were books I loved as a kid (different books at different ages) that, as an adult, I wondered why I loved them so much. And some books I’ve read as an adult that, if I’d read as a child MAY have enjoyed, but REALLY don’t like now.
I’ve had A WRINKLE IN TIME on my to-be-read list for years now, and I only just read it a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed the beginning of the book the best, and the whole “traveling from planet to planet” thing got a bit weird at times and, honestly, most of it didn’t make me “feel” as much as the beginning. I really enjoyed Calvin’s character—his personality. I found him so lovable. Meg, on the other hand, irritated me most of the time because her impatience was a bit too extreme once they began hunting for her father, etc. This book was also written at a time when mentioning God wasn’t quite the “no-no” as it tends to be now, but I found it refreshing in that respect, and I did appreciate the tackling of some profound life stuff.
I don’t intend to read any more in the series. I simply wasn’t captured well enough by the whole thing, but I’m VERY glad I finally read it. I, too, felt too “in the dark” about it, as I still do with SO many books I’ve yet to read! lol Great post!
Please read the last one, A Swiftly Planet. I believe that that is the best one of the series.
Hmmm…Marta, you can read just the first and last and enjoy?
Love that we were experiencing this book around the same time.
I didn’t see the original series Star Trek until after reading Wrinkle, but I remember bursting out, “It’s like IT!” when I saw that episode. 🙂
I love A Wrinkle in Time now–and I liked it when I was a kid, even though it creeped me out, too. I was so startled to find a character like Meg, someone a lot like me, who was trying to figure out how to make her personality work and how to overcome the parts of herself she didn’t like without losing that personality. I’ve only recently discovered some of Madeleine’s other fiction, after coming to love her personally through reading Walking on Water and Two Part Invention (which I also highly recommend). Some of the later books in the series are…strange. They fascinate me as an adult for the theology they tackle, but I’m not sure I would have appreciated them as a child. Or maybe my understanding of the theology is just getting in the way of the story now…
LOL, I found A WRINKLE IN TIME a bit strange too 😉
I read this book for the first time in my early twenties. It’s one of my favorite books. I don’t know how my child self would have liked it. I read a lot of horse stories back then!
Confession. I might be the only kid who didn’t love MISTY.
“Have been” that should read. I *think* I left childhood at some point. 😉