Many Waters

Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle, 1986 Ferrar, Straus & Giroux

   Dennys and Sandy Murry are the somewhat normal twin brothers of Meg and Charles Wallace Murry. When they disturb something in their mother's lab and are swept away from New England's winter into, what they assume to be, an alien world. The twins encounter humans, much shorter than the two teens, a miniature mammoth, unicorns that are both there and not quite there at the same time, and a water prospector named Japheth.
     Japheth offers to take Sandy and Dennys to the nearest oasis, but on the journey both boys get heatstroke, and the unicorn Dennys rides runs off. Sandy remains with Japheth and his grandfather Lamech.
     Dennys reappears, but is thrown into the garbage pile at the oasis. Even worse off, he is taken to the tent of the patriarch who he discovers is Lamech's son and Japheth's father, Noah.
     The twins realize they've been transported into Biblical times, to the time of Noah, just before the great flood. The improbable creatures that tend to the boys, the pelican, scarab beetle, and lion are merely the animal hosts of seraphim who are unusually aware of the science of modern Earth. Their counterparts, the nephilim are distrustful of the twins and their presence in Noah's world and try to discover the purpose behind their visit.
     Sandy and Dennys live at the oasis for about a year, becoming more independent of each other, and learning the complexity of the world around them and the complexity of themselves both as a twin brothers, and as individuals. When the time comes for the great flood, the boys are left behind, yet they still help build the Ark and leave their mark on Noah's family.
     Many Waters is the story of how Sandy and Dennys forge their own identities separate from the unit that everyone else views them as. Their travel through the Biblical world mirrors the journey made by their sister and brother in the previous three novels of the series and informs each boy's transformation. The ties to Bible stories are woven through out L'Engle's tale in an obvious, yet understated manner that stimulates thought. Readers both young and old can follow the evolution of Dennys and Sandy as they face adversity, find and lose love, and stick to their values, despite danger and drama. An ideal audience would be early teens facing the challenges of high school.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle, 1978 Farrar, Straus & Giroux

     Ten years after their adventures with the Echthroi in A Wind in the Door Meg and Calvin are married and expecting their first child. Meg spends Thanksgiving with the Murry family and Calvin's mother, Mrs. O'Keefe, while Calvin is at a conference in Britain. When the family hears of impending nuclear war caused by "Mad Dog Branzillo", dictator of a fictional South American country, Mrs. O'Keefe charges Charles Wallace with preventing the war and arms him with "Patrick's Rune" a spell of protection passed down from her Irish ancestors.
     Charles Wallace goes to the family's star-watching rock and begins reciting the rune. He summons Gauidor, a unicorn from the heavens, who explains that Charles Wallace must travel through time to merge his mind with other people who have lived near the star-watching rock and change "might-have-beens" and alter the course of history. Charles Wallace is confused how events in New England will change what happens in South America, but the changes Charles Wallace makes act through a Butterfly Effect making larger changes in the modern world.
     As he travels the Echthroi return and each change for the good that Charles Wallace fights for is opposed by their forces trying to maintain the 'evil' outcome. Charles Wallace visits a Native American boy, a Welsh trans-atlantic voyager, a welsh colonist, an American Civil War writer, and Mrs. O'Keefe's brother as a child. Meg uses the technique kything that she learned in A Wind in the Door to keep in touch with Charles Wallace telepathically on his adventures.
     Charles Wallace discovers the connection between New England and Mad Dog Branzillo, but his alteration of "might-have-beens" causes a peaceful man to be born, rather than the crazed dictator.
     The story of A Swiftly Tilting Planet shows how small events in everyday life can change the world and suggests a way for the reader to act in his or her own life that makes the future of our world a more desirable one. The story is suitable for older children, around fifth or sixth grade, however, some of L'Engle's language may be difficult for young readers. Older readers will discover new dimensions of the reading with each revisit.

A Wind in the Door

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle, 1973 Ferrar, Straus & Giroux

   After the events of A Wrinkle in Time Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin are back in their world where Charles Wallace is suffering from a progressive disease thought to be caused by his mitochondria. Meg is worried about her brother and finds his new school principal is the high school's former principal (Meg thinks Mr. Jenkins has a grudge against her family when he refuses to help with Charles Wallace's bullying). When he appears in the Murrys' back yard, Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin encounter a Cherubim named Proginoskes, whom they nickname Progo. The three children and the winged mass of a cherub discover they have been called to learn from the Teachers Blajeny and Louise the Larger, a tall robed man and snake who lives in the Murry family's walls.
     The group learns about Echthroi, a group of creatures trying to un-make the universe by Un-Naming the things that create it. To stop the Echthroi from unmaking Mr. Jenkins Meg must distinguish him from two doubles and find a connection to the good in him. They discover that Charles Wallace's troubles are caused by the Echthroi's efforts to convince his mitochondrial farandola not to mature. Meg and Calvin travel into one of Charles Wallace's mitochondria, named Yadah, and convince the immature fara to take root and mature. Meg is very nearly Un-Named, but she and Calvin are successful. When Mr. Jenkins is almost invaded by his doubles Progo volunteers to fill the emptiness that is the Echthroi, sacrificing himself to return everything to normal and save the universe.
     Like many of Madeleine L'Engle's works, the language of A Wind in the Door can be difficult for younger readers, but the struggle between light and dark is a common theme in youth literature. Readers in middle to late elementary may need help with the reading, but are a good audience for the story itself. Older readers might find Meg's concerns for Charles Wallace overbearing and the worries of an overly concerned sister, however bullying is a largely ignored theme and mainly serves to introduce Mr. Jenkins. A Wind in the Door is a good read for any age.

A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, 1962 Farrar, Straus & Giroux

     Margaret Murry is known as Meg by her family. Though she is brilliant at math, Meg is the average one in a family of geniuses: her ten-year-old twin brothers Sandy and Dennys are brilliant with sports and most things mechanical; the youngest brother, Charles Wallace, only began speaking at four years old (though he began speaking in complete sentences with an extensive vocabulary immediately) and at five he has an uncanny ability to telepathically read others' thoughts and emotions; her mother is a beauty and a microbiologist working with scientific concepts Meg cannot seem to grasp, but that Charles Wallace easily explains; Meg's father is a physicist working with the government on a project called a tesseract. At thirteen Meg constantly compares herself to her brilliant and beautiful mother and the comparison leads to feelings of inferiority. When Meg meets Calvin O'Keefe, a fourteen-year-old high school junior, and the two begin to develop a deep and lasting relationship.
     When Meg's father goes missing, she has hope that he'll return, but the fear that he has left the family intentionally wreaks havoc on her emotional stability. One day, during a storm Mrs. Whatsit comes to the Murry home and Charles Wallace announces it time to go on a quest in search of their father. The children go out into the nearby woodland, meet Calvin, and encounter Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which. The three women are angelic beings with vast knowledge of the Black Thing who help Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin in their search for Mr. Murry.
     The Mrs. "W"s use the tesseract to move the three children through space from earth to Uriel, a planet filled with centaur-like creatures who live in a state of light and love. It is there that the three children are first hear about the Black Thing and its mission to take over the Universe. They next travel by tesseract to the land of the "Happy Medium", she looks into her crystal ball and shows the fight against the Dark Thing on earth, how figures throughout history have fought against it, and how the tide may turn.
     The next stop is the planet Comazotz, a planet dominated by the Black Thing. The people are robotic and controlled by a hive-mind called "IT". When the children encounter the embodiment of IT, it convinces Charles Wallace to look into his eyes and become a vessel for the creature. He then leads his sister and her friend to the place where Mr. Murry is held captive, then to the place where IT was centralized. The concentrated power of Comazotz's telepathic ruler nearly takes over Meg and Calvin as it had Charles Wallace, but Mr. Murry is able to transport the children from Comazotz in time.
     Unfortunately, Mr. Murry doesn't know how to protect the children as they travel through the Black Thing and Meg nearly dies. When they arrive in Ixchel, a neighboring planet, the local population helps to save and heal her. The trio of Ws appears and task Meg with rescuing her brother from the Black Thing. When Meg, Calvin, Charles Wallace, and Mr. Murry return home things are forever changed.
     When A Wrinkle in Time first went to publishers, many editors were hesitant about publishing a book that so obviously dealt with issues of good and evil, with a significant emphasis on religion. While a younger readership might skim over the blatant Christianity, older readers catch the allusions beyond L'Engle's text. The story is captivating and gives a more liberal take on the traditional Christian discourse. A good aged audience is twelve years or older.