A Wrinkle in Time
I love this book. A science fiction young adult novel by Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time was first published in 1962 and has won all kinds of awards. In the engrossing story, packed with philosophical questions, three children travel through the universe by means of “tesseract,” a fifth-dimensional phenomenon explained as being the square of the fourth dimension (like a space warp).
The novel provokes questions about the nature of space and time, the relationship between appearance and reality, essential versus contingent properties, the meanings of words, the relationship between equality and conformity, and the meaning of courage. It would be a marvelous book to read over a month or so with middle school students, with weekly discussion groups examining the philosophical issues raised in the book.
Yes, here is the link to discussion questions for this book on our website: http://depts.washington.edu/nwcenter/dqwrinkle.html
I loved this book as a child too. Do you have suggested questions for discussion? I'd like to start a book group with my high-achieving students aged 10/11. Thanks in advance.