When I was in fourth grade, the fifth grade teachers at my grade school read A Wrinkle in Time to their classes, usually to settle the kids down after recess.  I couldn't wait to get to fifth grade to hear the whole story. So, in fifth grade, I heard this incredible story and hung on every word.  I have since read it many times. 

As a young girl, I empathized with poor awkward Meg Murry, whose beautiful mother and brilliant father encouraged her and believed her to be capable of great things.  I loved that she had a little brother, Charles Wallace, who was a super-genius, but who would come in and comfort Meg when she felt like an ugly bad-tempered beast.  I loved  the wonderful "Mrs. W's" who sacrificed themselves to fight the Darkness, and of course, the awkward teenage boy -Calvin O'Keefe- who, despite his popularity at school, felt himself to also be a misfit.

The story starts out on a stormy night, when the Murry household is visited by a mysterious, excentric old woman who calls herself Mrs. Whatsit.  She unnerves Mrs. Murry by saying, " there is such a thing as a tesseract."  The next morning, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with  Calvin O'Keefe, visit the haunted house where Mrs. Whatsit lives with her eccentric colleagues Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which.  What ensues is a most incredible story in which the children will travel to another planet (via the tesseract, which is a a fifth-dimensional phenomenon explained as being similar to folding the fabric of space and time) to rescue the Murry children's  missing scientist father, fighting the forces of Darkness and aided along the way by cosmic allies in the fight for Goodness and Light. 

This book  opened my mind to the possibilities of worlds and dimensions far beyond what I had ever imagined.  The themes of love and sacrifice, friendship, courage, resourcefulness, and family ties underlie the action, and make this book a beloved classic.

So, why has such a great sci-fi character-driven book been challenged and banned so many times since its publication in 1962?  Most of the objections seem to center around the accusation that the book "undermines religious beliefs” by mentioning Jesus along with other great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders.  The book also contains crystal balls, and the three eccentric women, although actually fallen stars, are interpreted by some to be "witches."