Product Description

Meg Murry can't help but be worried when her six-year-old brother, Charles Wallace, announces there are dragons in the vegetable garden. He's so bright, and so different from other kids, he's getting bullied at school, and he is also strangely, seriously ill.



But Charles Wallace is right about the dragons--actually a friendly entity who has come to help Charles Wallace fight his sickness, and to take Meg and her friend Calvin O'Keefe on a terrifying, wonderful journey into galactic space--where they must battle the force of evil to save Charles Wallace, and themselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #230945 in Books
• Published on: 1974-04-01
• Released on: 1974-03-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 211 pages

Amazon.com
"There are dragons in the twins' vegetable garden," announces six-year-old Charles Wallace Murry in the opening sentence of The Wind in the Door. His older sister, Meg, doubts it. She figures he's seen something strange, but dragons--a "dollop of dragons," a "drove of dragons," even a "drive of dragons"--seem highly unlikely. As it turns out, Charles Wallace is right about the dragons--though the sea of eyes (merry eyes, wise eyes, ferocious eyes, kitten eyes, dragon eyes, opening and closing) and wings (in constant motion) is actually a benevolent cherubim (of a singularly plural sort) named Proginoskes who has come to help save Charles Wallace from a serious illness.

In her usual masterful way, Madeleine L'Engle jumps seamlessly from a child's world of liverwurst and cream cheese sandwiches to deeply sinister, cosmic battles between good and evil. Children will revel in the delectably chilling details--including hideous scenes in which a school principal named Mr. Jenkins is impersonated by the Echthroi (the evil forces that tear skies, snuff out light, and darken planets). When it becomes clear that the Echthroi are putting Charles Wallace in danger, the only logical course of action is for Meg and her dear friend Calvin O'Keefe to become small enough to go inside Charles Wallace's body--into one of his mitochondria--to see what's going wrong with his farandolae. In an illuminating flash on the interconnectedness of all things and the relativity of size, we realize that the tiniest problem can have mammoth, even intergalactic ramifications. Can this intrepid group voyage through time and space and muster all their strength of character to save Charles Wallace? It's an exhilarating, enlightening, suspenseful journey that no child should miss.

The other books of the Time quartet, continuing the adventures of the Murry family, are A Wrinkle in Time; A Swiftly Tilting Planet, which won the American Book Award; and Many Waters. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson

Review
"The chief characters of...A Wrinkle in Time return in a complex sci-fi/fantasy adventure...Meg and Calvin O'Keefe are enlisted again to fight evil, this time in the shape of the Echthroi, which are spreading through the universe."-Starred, School Library Journal

Card catalog description
With Meg Murry's help, the dragons her six-year-old brother saw in the vegetable garden play an important part in his struggle between life and death.

Customer Reviews

Overrated
This novel is profoundly overrated. I read it as a child (probably of ten or eleven) and loved it, as I had loved A Wrinkle In Time, but re-reading it as an adult of forty (and now an English teacher), I must say that A Wind In The Door is heavy-handed, didactic, clumsy, and just plain smug in its willful avoidance of good storytelling and readability. L'Engle beats you over the head with Christian allegory that doesn't really go beyond a very vague sort of early '70s "love EVERYONE" vibe. Characters appear and are immediately recognized as "good" or "evil," and don't even get me STARTED on the dialogue. Honestly, if this had been written by one of my students, I'd send it back with "Do people REALLY ever talk like this?" in red pen. After reading what L'Engle wrote about J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series: "I read one of them. It's a nice story but there's nothing underneath it. I don't want to be bothered with stuff where there's nothing underneath. Some people say, "'Why do you read the Bible?'' I say, "Because there's a lot of stuff underneath,'"
I can't honestly say that she, herself, shows anything specific underneath. Her writing is smugly vague, full of odd certainties and gaping plot holes. I will admit to still finding A Wrinkle In Time fairly worthwhile, but it suffers from many of the same issues.

Another great read by L'Engle
Title: A Wind in the Door
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Publisher: Crosswicks, LTD.
Publishing Date: 1973

"Dark business suit"," salt and pepper hair", "muddy eyes" and the unmistakable "small snowfall of dandruff on his shoulders." Meet Mr. Jenkins, the principal of Charles Wallace's elementary school. This was the typical Mr. Jenkins that terrified Meg Murry, the oldest in the Murry family. But on this given day she had to brave not one Mr. Jenkins but three! The nervously, bold Meg Murry begins her first of several tests to help her younger brother Charles.
Charles, Meg, and their two twin brothers Sandy and Dennis are the children of two great scientists. Like their parents, they have all been "blessed" with outstanding academic abilities. Charles Wallace's intelligence, nonetheless, brings him more trouble than ease. New to the first grade and to a school setting, Charles makes several social blunders that cause him recurring painful repercussions. As a result, older sister Meg steps in to lend a helping hand but soon finds herself set before a series overwhelming trials set in outer space and at a microscopic level.
Filled with unimaginable scenarios that will blow you away, Madeleine L'Engle's A Wind in the Door is a must read! I personally couldn't get enough of its creative, out of this world setting; it takes you past the typical classroom and into a space that will challenge your visual perceptions of size and communication. You may view your surroundings a bit differently after finishing this book.
In addition, the characters are equally as engaging and relatable. Charles Wallace is a bit of an odd duck, but he is still someone you grow to be quite fond of. You can't help but love the quirky, little first grader who brings his pet snake, Louise the Larger, for show and tell, and whose interests include mitochondria and farandolae, instead of video games and TV. Similarly, Meg Murry, the main character of the story, is a loving older sister who might make you reconsider bullying your little sister or brother the next time they step into your room; she is a caring, giving individual that stops at nothing to help her little brother.
My only criticism is that the book doesn't really continue L'Engle's previous book A Wrinkle in Time. A Wrinkle in Time is the first book written about the Murry family and it is as attention grabbing as A Door in the Wind, if not more. I was, therefore, disappointed with the disjointed series; although, if you are new to Engle's work, it's nice to know that you can start with either book. Aside from this, I really can't find any downsides to the book.
I therefore definitely recommend this quick 211-page read to any 8th grader out there with an interest in science fiction. I can assure you that, like a bag of Pringles, once you start you just won't stop!

A breezy read?
Although Madeleine L'Engle's A Wind in the Door is technically a sequel to A Wrinkle in Time (and the second of her Time Quintet), there is very little reference to the previous work. Although the characters are the same, the adventure is quite different, and if Wrinkle seemed bizarre, Wind is even more mind-bending.

Once again, the main character is Meg Murry, a year or so older than in Wrinkle, and her genius younger brother, Charles Wallace. As the story opens, Charles Wallace has seen a dragon in the garden, and Meg is initially dismissive of her brother's observation. They both have more on their minds than dragons, however: Charles Wallace is also ill with a mysterious disease that is affecting the mitochondria in his cells.

Apparently, there are things within mitochondria called farandolae, so tiny they're only theoretical, but they are the source of the illness. There are also the Echthroi, demonic creatures that can wipe almost anything out of existence. Meg will need allies to cure the farandolae, including the dragon - actually a cherubim - named Proginoskes, her friend Calvin and her former adversary and principal, Mr. Jenkins. As in Wrinkle, a journey will be required, not to another world but into Charles Wallace himself. It will not be Fantastic Voyage, but it will be a fantastic voyage.

This is an interesting and entertaining book that is definitely weird, maybe even too much so for its target audience of pre-teens. I could be wrong: this novel must be staying in print for 35 years for some reason. If you enjoyed Wrinkle, then A Wind in the Door should also be a good read.