A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel
*Starred Review* Commemorating its fiftieth anniversary, L’Engle’s classic couldn’t have scored a better talent to adapt its story into comics form. Larson produces high-quality coming-of-age stories featuring female protagonists, with the most recent (Mercury, 2010) even including a fantasy element to highlight the tale’s emotional stakes. She dives wholeheartedly into L’Engle’s seminal epic, chronicling the journey of Meg Murry, her preternaturally intelligent younger brother, Charles, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe, crossing distant worlds to save the Murry’s, lost patriarch. Guided by three grandmotherly guardian angels, they navigate the dangers of a mind-controlled world fallen under the influence of a cosmic force of pure evil. Larson has miraculously preserved the power of the original’s social and religious themes, as well as its compelling emotional core, while staying true to her distinctive voice and aesthetic. Her soft-lined, large-eyed characters are a modern exemplar of classical American cartooning, and the metallic blue coating of the pages evokes both the timelessness of the story and the remoteness of alien worlds. This adaptation is fabulous for presenting a fresh vision to those familiar with the original, but it’s so true to the story’s soul that even those who’ve never read it will come away with a genuine understanding of L’Engle’s ideas and heart. Grades 6-12. --Jesse Karp