A Wrinkle in Time BookFiles Guide (PDF) - Scholastic

1 Scholastic BookFilesA READING Guide TOA Wrinkle in Timeby Madeleine L Engle Manuela SoaresCopyright 2003 by Scholastic rights reserved. Published by Scholastic , Scholastic REFERENCE, Scholastic BookFiles , and associatedlogos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrievalsystem, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without writtenpermission of the publisher. For information regarding permission,write to Scholastic Inc.

2 , Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataSoares, BookFiles : A Reading Guide to A Wrinkle in time byMadeleine L Engle/by Manuela : Discusses the writing, characters, plot, and themes ofthis 1963 Newbery Award winning book. Includes discussionquestions and bibliographical references (p. ).1. L Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in time Juvenile Science fiction, American History and criticism Juvenileliterature. 3. Space and time in literature Juvenile literature.[1. L Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in time . 2.]

3 Americanliterature History and criticism.] I. Title: A Reading Guide toA Wrinkle in time by Madeleine L Engle. II. 2003813 .54 dc2120020426650-439-46364-5 109876543210304050607 Composition by Brad Walrod/High Text Graphics, and interior design by Red Herring DesignPrinted in the 23 First printing, July 2003 About Madeleine L Engle5 How A Wrinkle in TimeCame About11 Chapter Charter: Questions to Guide Your Reading14 Plot: What s Happening?18 Setting/ time and Place: Where in the World Are We? 23 Themes/Layers of Meaning: Is That What It ReallyMeans?28 Characters: Who Are These People, Anyway?

4 36 Opinion: What Have Other People Thought About A Wrinkle in time ?48 Glossary50 Index to Quote s52 Madeleine L Engle on Writing55 You Be the Author!58 Activitie s60 Related Reading61 Bibliography63 ContentsAbout Madeleine L EngleMadeleine L Engle doesn t think of herself as a children sbook writer. She s just a writer. She writes books that shewould want to Engle believes kids need heroes like Meg in A Wrinkle in time ,because heroes were important to her when she was growing up. I always needed somebody that I wanted to be as good as, shesays, if not better than.

5 L Engle was born Madeleine L Engle Camp on November 29,1918. Her mother was a pianist and her father was a journalistand a writer who fought in World War I. His lungs were damagedfrom mustard gas, a poisonous gas that was used as a weapon inthe war. Because of his health problems, the family traveled toplaces where the air was dry and easy to an only child, L Engle grew up lonely and always wished for alarger family. She says that s why the families in her novels havelots of her parents lived they always had many friends artists, musicians, and writers. Their lives were very full andthey really didn t have time for a child.

6 So I turned to writing toamuse myself. 5L Engle grew up in a house full of books, so reading and writingcame naturally. My parents read aloud to each other everynight, says L Engle. Among the books they read were the worksof the French writer Alexandre Dumas. It was from Dumas thatL Engle says she found a sense of story. When Madeleine was twelve, the family moved to a town in theFrench Alps. She was sent to a boarding school, which shehated. When she was fourteen, the family returned to the UnitedStates and Madeleine was sent to Ashley Hall, a boarding schoolin Ashley, South Carolina, which she loved.

7 She was seventeenand still at Ashley Hall when her father died. She went on tospend four years at Smith College, graduating with honors in1941. In 1981 Smith awarded her a Smith Medal for service tothe community that reflects the purpose of a liberal artseducation. After graduating from Smith, L Engle moved to the GreenwichVillage neighborhood in New York City with three other youngwomen. She still wanted to be a writer, but I had to pay the bills,so I went to work in the theater. While she was on tour as an actress, Madeleine wrote her firstbook, The Small Rain. At this time she decided that having threenames was more than she needed.

8 So, Madeleine dropped herlast name, Engle knows all about her heritage. The name L Engle can betraced back to two French brothers, one Catholic and one6 Protestant. They fought and the Protestant brother got mad andleft France. He changed the original spelling of his name, whichwas L Angle, to L Engle. I m descended from the mad brother! L Engle says with a she was rehearsing a play, she met an actor named HughFranklin. They were married when they were on tour withanother play. A short time later, they both decided to give upacting. They moved to rural Connecticut, where they opened ageneral store.

9 It was a very safe place to start raising our kids, L Engle recalls. No city lights, no noises at night. They lived in a very smalltown that is a lot like the town in A Wrinkle in time . In fact, itwas while they were living in Connecticut that L Engle wroteA Wrinkle in their store was successful, the Franklins missed NewYork City. After ten years, they moved back to the city with theirthree children, settling into a large eight-room apartmentoverlooking the Hudson the fact that L Engle was an author who had alreadypublished six books, it took more than two years to find apublisher for A Wrinkle in time .

10 Later, after the book was asuccess, one publisher who had rejected it told her, I wish I dhad the chance to publish it. L Engle mailed him a copy of therejection slip he had sent does it feel to have such a huge success after trying for solong to find a publisher? Since it was the book nobody wanted, says L Engle, it feels kind of nice. A Wrinkle in Timewon the prestigious Newbery Medal in 1963,the year after it was published. It is the first book in whatbecame a four-book series called The time Quartet. Three otherbooks about the Murry family were published after A Wrinkle inTime.