Time Quintet facts for kids
Spines of the first four books in the Time Quintet in their original hardback dust jackets
|
|
|
A Wrinkle in Time A Wind in the Door A Swiftly Tilting Planet Many Waters The Arm of the Starfish Dragons in the Waters A House Like a Lotus An Acceptable Time |
|
| Author | Madeleine L'Engle |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult, science fantasy |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Published | 1962 – 1989 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
The Time Quintet is a super cool series of five young adult novels. They mix fantasy and science fiction, and were written by Madeleine L'Engle. These books follow the exciting adventures of the Murry family and their friends as they travel through time and space to fight evil.
Contents
Meet the Time Quintet Books
This series is all about the amazing journeys of Meg Murry, her smart younger brother Charles Wallace Murry, and their good friend Calvin O'Keefe. They work together to save the world from dark forces. Meg's twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys Murry, also have their own big adventure in one of the books. Later, Meg and Calvin's oldest daughter, Polyhymnia O'Keefe, gets her own story, bringing the Time Quintet to a close.
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in the series. It tells the story of Meg Murry, a high school girl who feels a bit out of place. She goes on an incredible adventure through time and space with her brother Charles Wallace and friend Calvin O'Keefe. Three mysterious beings, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, help them. Their mission is to rescue Meg's scientist father, who is trapped by evil forces on another planet.
A Wind in the Door
In A Wind in the Door, Meg, Calvin, and their grumpy school principal, Mr. Jenkins, must go on a tiny journey. They travel inside one of Charles Wallace's mitochondria (which are like tiny power plants inside cells!). They need to save him from a dangerous illness. This journey is part of a huge battle against evil creatures called Echthroi and the forces that try to "Unname" things.
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
A Swiftly Tilting Planet sees Charles Wallace needing to save the world from a nuclear war. He does this by traveling back in time to change past events. Meg stays at home but helps him from afar using a special connection called kything. It's a race against time to prevent a terrible future.
Many Waters
In Many Waters, twins Dennys and Sandy Murry accidentally mess with their father’s computer. This sends them back in time to the days before Noah's Great Flood! They meet Noah's family, some angelic beings called seraphim, and even tiny mammoths. It's a wild and unexpected trip to a very different past.
An Acceptable Time
An Acceptable Time features Polyhymnia O'Keefe, Meg and Calvin's oldest daughter. She visits her grandparents but finds herself stuck 3,000 years in the past. There, she gets caught up in a fight between two groups: the peaceful People of the Wind and the warlike People Across the Lake, who are suffering from a drought.
Where and When the Stories Happen
The exact time period for these stories is never clearly stated. However, they seem to take place in the 1960s and 70s. Since the books were written over many years, the dates of real-world events mentioned (like the Apollo space program) don't always match up perfectly.
Madeleine L'Engle believed in a special kind of time called Kairos. This is "real time, pure numbers with no measurement," different from our everyday "wrist-watch" time. It shows her belief that "God's time and our time are not the same."
In these books, characters often "tesser" or "wrinkle" through time and space. This is how they travel to different places and times to fight good versus evil. For example, the "wrinkle in time" in the first book is a quick trip to the past. This lets Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace do their mission and get back home before anyone even notices they were gone.
L'Engle's stories are full of made-up places. Many of these names come from myths and legends. For instance, the planet Ixchel in A Wrinkle in Time is named after a Mayan moon goddess. Other places in the books are like real places L'Engle lived or visited. The Murry family's home, for example, is very much like L'Engle's own house in Connecticut.
Main Characters
The main heroes in the Time Quintet series are:
- Margaret "Meg" Murry is the oldest child of scientists Alex and Kate Murry. She is super smart at math but struggles with other school subjects. Meg can be a bit shy and defensive, but she loves her family and Calvin O'Keefe. She starts out feeling unhappy about how she looks, especially her messy hair and glasses. As the books go on, she grows more confident, though she never completely stops doubting herself. By A Swiftly Tilting Planet, she is married to Calvin and expecting their first child.
- Charles Wallace Murry is the youngest Murry child. His mother describes him as "different" and "new." Charles didn't speak until he was almost four, but then he started talking in full sentences! He can also "read" people's thoughts and feelings, and he is incredibly intelligent.
- Calvin O'Keefe is one of eleven children in his family. He is a tall, thin, red-haired 14-year-old (in the first book) who plays basketball. Calvin doesn't get much attention from his own family, so he loves being with the Murrys. Later, he marries Meg and earns two doctorates.
- Alexander "Sandy" Murry and Dennys Murry are twins, older than Charles Wallace but younger than Meg. They call themselves the "squares" of the family. This changes when they travel back to the time before the Great Flood in Many Waters. In other books, they are the realists, often a bit unsure about Meg and Charles Wallace's wild stories. As adults, Sandy becomes a lawyer, and Dennys becomes a brain surgeon.
- Polyhymnia O'Keefe is the main character of An Acceptable Time, the fifth book. She is the oldest child of Meg and Calvin, born after the events of A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Poly is smart and has traveled a lot, speaking many languages. She is still figuring out her career path, but by the end of An Acceptable Time, she might have found her calling.
Other Books in the Murry–O'Keefe Series
Madeleine L'Engle wrote four more books that feature the children of Calvin and Meg O'Keefe, especially Polyhymnia and their oldest son, Charles. These books are:
- The Arm of the Starfish (1965)
- Dragons in the Waters (1976)
- A House Like a Lotus (1984)
- An Acceptable Time (1989)
These books also use the "Kairos" time idea. While The Arm of the Starfish and An Acceptable Time have a lot of the science fantasy elements, the others are a bit different. Together, all eight books are known as the "Murry–O'Keefe" series. These books also connect to other characters, like Adam Eddington and the Austin family from L'Engle's other series. This means almost all of L'Engle's novels are connected in one big story!
Movies Based on the Books
A Wrinkle in Time has been made into movies!
- In 2003, Disney made A Wrinkle in Time into a TV movie.
- In 2018, a new film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time was released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was directed by Ava DuVernay.
