Book name: A Wind in the Door
Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Setting:
- Charles Wallace’s house-This is where Charles Wallace, Meg, and the twins live.
- Inside Charles Wallace’s mitochondria- This is where the climax, or the biggest part of the book, takes place. All the adventure. All the fighting. All the exciting stuff.
Characters:
- Meg-Meg is the sister of Charles Wallace. She is one of the main characters of the book.
- Charles Wallace-Charles Wallace is Meg’s brother. He is also a main character of the book.
- Jenkins- He is the principal of the school Charles goes to.
- Sandy and Dennys- They are the siblings of Meg and Charles.
- Murry- She is the mother of Charles Wallace, Sandy and Dennys, and Meg. She’s also a scientist.
- Calvin O’Keefe- He is the friendly boy. He’s friends with Meg. They went on an adventure in another book.
Summary:
Meg is worried about Charles Wallace, her six-year-old brother. He’s been acting…strange. And his eyes have lines under them. He has trouble breathing, and he gets tired easily by just walking. And Charles recently claims that he had seen a bunch of dragons.
Meg sees a pile of feathers, and then she sees something she never thought she’d see: a man with wings. The creepy thing was that he looked like Mr. Jenkins. Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace discover that Charles’s “group of dragons” is actually a unique cherubim named Proginoskes. Meg and Charles learn from the tutelage of a Teacher, Blajeny.
Meg has three tasks. First, she has to recognize who is the real Mr. Jenkins from two Echthroi doubles. She has to identify the goodness in the real one despite her grudge against Mr. Jenkins and not loving him. They discover that Echthroi are trying to destroy Charles Wallace’s farandolae.
Let me explain the farandolae. You know how cells live in your body? Mitochondria live in your cells. And farandolae live in mitochondria. If the farandolae die, then the mitochondria will get very ill, and you will die.
Anyways, the heroes travel inside of one of Charles Wallace’s mitochondria. They have to also persuade a farandola named Sporos to accept the role to be a mature fara. Sporos has to fight the urgings of the Echthroi. Meg is nearly annihilated, and Mr. Jenkins is invaded by his Echthroi doubles.
Proginoskes ends up sacrificing himself to fill in the emptiness of the Echthroi, and Charles Wallace is saved. It’s a bittersweet ending. Charles Wallace ends up getting saved, but Proginoskes has to kill himself.
Opinion: Yes, I liked the book. Yes, I would recommend the book. I would recommend it to certain people because I think it’s a deep book that might be a little confusing for younger children. I would recommend this book for ages 10 and up. I liked this book because of its love, effort, and magic put into it. It really seems like I’m there, watching all of this chaos and magic happen. I feel the heartbreaking moments and the happy moments. Madeleine L’Engle is a great author!