Picture Book Report

A WRINKLE IN TIME Chp. 2 Mrs. Who

March 23, 2010 at 1:14 pm Jeremy Sorese 6 comments

Posted by: Jeremy Sorese
Book: A Wrinkle in Time (purchase on Amazon)

If you remember where I left off last month, the Murry household had been visited by a strange little woman named Mrs. Whatsit during the middle of a terrible stormy night. As she left, Mrs. Whatsit spoke of a tesseract which shocked Mrs. Murry and a confused Meg went to bed without a clue as to what a tesseract is or why her mother was so shaken by hearing the word.

The next morning, Meg awoke to realize that their nocturnal visitor was in fact real and not a dream as she hoped. Her two brothers Sandy and Denny complain that they weren’t woken up for all the excitement and after a breakfast of french toast, the Murry children head off to school. In class, Meg is distracted and tired, cannot remember the principal exports of Nicaragua and is sent to the office for talking back to her teacher. Even worse, the principal tries prying Meg for information regarding her father, especially now that it has been almost a year since the Murry household has heard from him.

A bitter and embarrassed Meg returns home, to find Charles waiting for her, eager to take a stroll through the woods with his older sister and their dog Fortinbras. Charles has even predicted her hunger and packed an afternoon snack for her. In the woods they stumble upon Calvin O’Keefe, a tall gangly kid who plays basketball at Meg’s school. Charles gives him the third degree, curious as to why he is wandering through the woods by himself and Calvin explains that he has “compulsions” (see second illustration I posted last month). Charles decides the three of them should visit Mrs. Whatsit who lives in a little rickety little shack with a reputation of being haunted. Inside is not Mrs. Whatsit but Mrs. Who, which is what I illustrated above.  The conversation with the short squat woman is quick and even more confusing for Meg than the encounter with Mrs. Whatsit. Kicked out of the shack, the three kids decide to go back to the Murry household for dinner.

“Lead on, moron,”Calvin cried gaily. “I’ve never even seen your house, and I have the funniest feeling that for the first time in my life I’m going home!”

Entry filed under: A Wrinkle in Time. Tags: jeremysorese.