Hi y’all!

Hope you’re having a great weekend and making special Christmas memories. 

I’m back today with a review of A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel adapted and illustrated by Hope Larson. I have suddenly read several graphic novels this year. And I’ve been surprised by how much I have enjoyed them!

I read this one as a buddy read with my sister. She found this at her elementary school library where she teaches and I was intrigued at this classic being told in a graphic novel style.

And let me say first that if you have not read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, start there. I highly recommend it!

Book Summary: “Late one night, three otherworldly creatures appear and sweep Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe away on a mission to save Mr. Murry, who has gone missing while doing top-secret work for the government. They travel via tesseract — a wrinkle that transports one across space and time — to the planet Camazotz, where Mr. Murry is being held captive. There they discover a dark force that threatens not only Mr. Murry but the safety of the whole universe.

Never before illustrated, A Wrinkle in Time is now available in a spellbinding graphic novel adaptation. Hope Larson takes the classic story to a new level with her vividly imagined interpretations of Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, Mrs Which, the Happy Medium, Aunt Beast, and the many other characters that readers have loved for the past fifty years. Winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal, A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet.“

Seeing this particular book illustrated was a fascinating experience. There are so many memorable moments, characters, and descriptions in this book. I applaud Hope Larson for taking on the daunting task of illustrating this particular classic. So interesting to see a depiction of the characters and scenes in this stories. A few that stuck out to me: Mrs Whatsit changing shape, the way Charles Wallace’s eyes shift when he is taken by IT, travelling by tesser, Aunt Beast’s appearance and more. While I didn’t picture all the same way this author did, I appreciated seeing how they could be.

Overall, I thought this adaptation was true to the original plot which I appreciated. It’s been several years since I reread A Wrinkle in Time, but it seemed true to the book. Even in the details like quoting scientific ideas and calculations. Their space travels and interactions with other characters seemed true to the original. I recognized scenes like the children all bouncing the ball at the same time. And the children’s first view of the darkness. Even the dark and stormy night when Meg can’t sleep. There were a few moments that were not like the original. A bit more angsty Meg and love story with her and Calvin. That was a bit off from the original and a bit weird (they are only like 10 in the book). But we get a lot of the main ideas right.

I’m intrigued by graphic novels lately and this one continued that trend. I liked the blue color tones only throughout the book. That gave it a cold, unique vibe. So interesting to get a story with more illustrations than words. We see Meg travel through space and we see Charles Wallace loose his sense of self. We see the pain on father’s face and the different forms of Whatsit Who and Which. Pictures can give us a different perspective on the story than simply words.

While I believe the original cannot be outdone, this was still worth reading and experiencing in a new way. There were a few moments I didn’t like when Meg was particularly angsty or the love story that was added. But overall, I really enjoyed seeing this classic from a new perspective. Worth the read!

Which classics would you like to read as a graphic novel?
Any Wrinkle in Time fans out there? What do you love about it?