This Term our Book Club chose "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle for our weekly Book Club adventure.
As I am writing this, we have already raced through the first five chapters and our next meeting, on Thursday 14th June will see us discuss Chapters 6 and 7. We have also invited students from around the world to participate in our discussions through this blog and look forward to hearing their ideas, thoughts and feelings about each book that we unravel.
Due to our progress so far with "A Wrinkle in Time' we have outlined our chapter discussions to date in this first post but will begin posting weekly from now on. Feel free to comment on any of the Chapters/discussions to date and let us now how old you are and where you are on the map.
Chapter 1
I haven't seen the Disney movie version of this book - I wanted to wait until I had read it. I like to be able to visualise the characters and settings before I see someone else's interpretation of them. Some of our Book Clubbers have seen the movie but have been sworn to secrecy - no spoilers allowed!
We started off with the very stormy beginning to chapter 1 where we were introduced to Meg and her family. It was very clear that they were no usual family and that Meg was going through a tough time for a number of reasons.
Meg's father had gone away for work and had not been heard from for a long time and people in their small town had started gossiping about his disappearance. Meg is very close to her father so she is confused because she can't understand why he hasn't contacted them. Meg feels alone and strange, so different from the rest of her family.
Her teacher doesn't make her feel any better, either, "School. School was all wrong. She'd been dropped down to the lowest section in her grade. That morning one of her teachers had said crossly, "Really, Meg, I don't understand how a child with parents as brilliant as yours are supposed to be can be such a poor student. If you don't manage to do a little better you'll have to stay back next year." This adds to Meg's self-loathing: "I don't want him to grow up to be dumb like me" and "Maybe if I weren't so repulsive-looking - maybe if I were pretty like you - ". We get the sense that Meg is really struggling just to be a kid.
We also meet Charles Wallace, the youngest Murry child, Mrs Murry, the beautiful and brilliant scientist and Mrs Whatsit, the strange, oddly dressed neighbour, who arrived at their kitchen door in the middle of a raging storm. Charles Wallace is clearly a very unusual, gifted child: "How right he [Father] had been about that, though he himself had left before Charles Wallace began to speak, suddenly, with none of the usual baby preliminaries, using entire sentences. How proud he would have been!" and we see him directing much of the action in the kitchen during this hurricane-like night.
During Book Club we discussed how there seemed to be a hint of Charles Wallace's ability to know exactly what others were thinking, and after meeting Mrs Whatsit, that he and her were alike in some way. This Chapter closes with another hint that Mrs Whatsit knows far too much about the Murry family for someone who they barely know, when she says to Mrs Murry that there is such a thing as a tesseract.
Discussion Question:
Which character would you be friends with and why?
What do you think a tesseract is?
Find three tricky words and look them up in the dictionary. Post them in the comments with their meaning.
Marisa (from blog) This is Mary a teresact is some sort of way you travel?
Marisa (from blog) I would want to be friends with meg because I could comfort her when she needs it.
As I am writing this, we have already raced through the first five chapters and our next meeting, on Thursday 14th June will see us discuss Chapters 6 and 7. We have also invited students from around the world to participate in our discussions through this blog and look forward to hearing their ideas, thoughts and feelings about each book that we unravel.
Due to our progress so far with "A Wrinkle in Time' we have outlined our chapter discussions to date in this first post but will begin posting weekly from now on. Feel free to comment on any of the Chapters/discussions to date and let us now how old you are and where you are on the map.
Chapter 1
I haven't seen the Disney movie version of this book - I wanted to wait until I had read it. I like to be able to visualise the characters and settings before I see someone else's interpretation of them. Some of our Book Clubbers have seen the movie but have been sworn to secrecy - no spoilers allowed!
We started off with the very stormy beginning to chapter 1 where we were introduced to Meg and her family. It was very clear that they were no usual family and that Meg was going through a tough time for a number of reasons.
Meg's father had gone away for work and had not been heard from for a long time and people in their small town had started gossiping about his disappearance. Meg is very close to her father so she is confused because she can't understand why he hasn't contacted them. Meg feels alone and strange, so different from the rest of her family.
Her teacher doesn't make her feel any better, either, "School. School was all wrong. She'd been dropped down to the lowest section in her grade. That morning one of her teachers had said crossly, "Really, Meg, I don't understand how a child with parents as brilliant as yours are supposed to be can be such a poor student. If you don't manage to do a little better you'll have to stay back next year." This adds to Meg's self-loathing: "I don't want him to grow up to be dumb like me" and "Maybe if I weren't so repulsive-looking - maybe if I were pretty like you - ". We get the sense that Meg is really struggling just to be a kid.
We also meet Charles Wallace, the youngest Murry child, Mrs Murry, the beautiful and brilliant scientist and Mrs Whatsit, the strange, oddly dressed neighbour, who arrived at their kitchen door in the middle of a raging storm. Charles Wallace is clearly a very unusual, gifted child: "How right he [Father] had been about that, though he himself had left before Charles Wallace began to speak, suddenly, with none of the usual baby preliminaries, using entire sentences. How proud he would have been!" and we see him directing much of the action in the kitchen during this hurricane-like night.
During Book Club we discussed how there seemed to be a hint of Charles Wallace's ability to know exactly what others were thinking, and after meeting Mrs Whatsit, that he and her were alike in some way. This Chapter closes with another hint that Mrs Whatsit knows far too much about the Murry family for someone who they barely know, when she says to Mrs Murry that there is such a thing as a tesseract.
Discussion Question:
Which character would you be friends with and why?
What do you think a tesseract is?
Find three tricky words and look them up in the dictionary. Post them in the comments with their meaning.
Marisa (from blog) This is Mary a teresact is some sort of way you travel?
Marisa (from blog) I would want to be friends with meg because I could comfort her when she needs it.