Hi, I'm Karen Funk Blocher. I built this website to help Madeleine L'Engle's readers figure out what books they want to read or buy for their collections, and where to get them. This website can also be helpful to people with questions about Madeleine L'Engle herself and students with papers to write. BUT: I'm NOT here to help you get out of reading a book for school, or to write part of your paper for you!

If you have questions about Madeleine L'Engle or her books, please explore this website before you email me your questions. There are lots of links in the table of contents below to help you find what you need. Most of the questions I receive are already answered on the FAQ page. If you want basic information about the novels in each series and in what order to read them, start with my novels page. Another major resource is Wikipedia. For various reasons, nearly all of my recent writing about Madeleine L'Engle has been concentrated there.

Older Madeleine L'Engle News

A Wrinkle in Time

From everything I've read over the past several years, however, the makers of the tv movie were passionate about making the best film/tv adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time that they possibly could. Nor was it just another property to them. It's a project at least one of the producers has been wanting to for many years, perhaps even decades.

The film won the 2003 Best Feature Film Award at the Toronto Children's Film Festival.  It was filmed in Canada, principally Vancouver and Whistler, in 2000-2001.  As early as September, 2001, a trailer for it appeared  on the Spy Kids VHS and DVD releases.  That trailer was very different from what eventually aired.  Similarly, most of the press releases for it mentioned Meg's father's "partner" in the tesseract project, Hank.  The character is briefly mentioned on page 167 of the book as a co-worker at the lab, who drew the short straw and tessered first.  The aired version of the movie, mercifully, doesn't mention him.  One variation between the book and the movie that didn't get changed to be more canonical is in the first names of Meg's parents.  In the movie, they're Jack and Dana.  As revealed in the L'Engle book An Acceptable Time, their names should have been Alexander (Alex) and Katherine (Kate). 

That's just the tip of the iceberg of differences between the book and the movie.  There are scenes added, scenes subtracted, scenes moved around.  Most of the dialogue is very different, and the movie updates the 1962 book with contemporary slang and references to the Web. I think, however, that we must accept that this isn't a word-for-word adaptation of this wonderful book, and never could be for dramatic, cinematic and other reasons. The film Mary Poppins isn't much like the books, but it's a truly great film anyway. No two versions of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio, books, TV, and LP record) have quite the same plot, but they're all great. So we must take the movie of A Wrinkle in Time on its own terms, and decide whether it works.

On the whole, I think it does.  It's not the greatest tv movie ever made, but it's well-cast, visually impressive, and reasonably satisfying in terms of story and characters.  Some points are made all too obvious, while others are passed over, and a few of the characters, most notably Mrs Which, aren't the people we know from the books.  But most of the characters are recognizably themselves, even if they don't say quite the same things; and the themes of the book remain more or less intact, even if the incidents that convey them are different from the original. The filmmakers made highly unexpected choices in casting the Mrs Ws, making them much younger and prettier than I ever pictured them being. But that's okay. They're good actresses, and they all did interesting things with their highly reinterpreted roles.

Two other recent screen projects are as follows:

A Ring of Endless Light

(Updated: 3/22/03)

A Ring of Endless Light premiered on the Disney Channel August 23, 2002 at 8 pm Eastern/Pacific, as a made for tv movie. Disney Channel original movies typically premiere on a Friday with back to back airings, are shown again the following night, and are repeated on an irregular basis after that. The most popular ones even get released on video in some cases. I have to say I was more than a little disappointed by this tv movie, which took the "safe" parts of the book (Vicky and Adam and dolphin communication, mostly), cut out most of the gloom and doom (no dead Commander Rodney, no Jeb, no sick little girl in ER, no sparrows in danger) and added on a save-the-dolphins plot that's previously appeared, more or less, in at least one other Disney production. Still, the cast was very good, and there are bits of pieces of the "real" characters and themes among the fluff. I guess I should have known that Disney wouldn't start with a book that is mostly about death and take it to the small screen intact. (*Sigh*)

Mischa Barton (an alumnus of All My Children, who also appeared in the 1999 film The Sixth Sense) stars as Vicky Austin, the girl who can communicate with dolphins. Its producer, Martha Wheelock of Ishtar Films, was also producer on her video biography, Madeleine L'Engle: Star*Gazer. Bruce Graham wrote the screenplay, and Greg Beeman directed.

The following was written by me before the movie first aired. I still agree with most of it:

The Disney Channel movie apparently has Vicky, Adam, and even Zach trying to save dolphins from villainous fishermen using illegal drift nets. Uh, excuse me, but that's not in the book I read! Still, if Madeleine L'Engle approved the addition this ecologically uplifting plot complication, then I'm prepared to give the Zoog Movie a fair chance. After all, environmentally-aware themes appear in several of L'Engle's books, including The Arm of the Starfish, which introduced the ever-popular Adam. I have to wonder, however, whether all this zug about drift nets is a substitution for some or all of the human deaths and impending deaths that form the heart of the original book. I was thinking just before the promos turned up that the novel as written is a little heavy for Disney. They may have had to tone down the omnipresent death angle and build up the dolphin angle to get the movie made at all. A dolphins-in-danger story has got to be a much easier sell for teen/tween-oriented cable than a story about a girl who is positively surrounded by death during one long, difficult summer. Still, if the filmmakers get even part of the death angle in, and are reasonably true to these characters, then all will be forgiven, at least by me. The producer-director has a longstanding acquaintance with Madeleine L'Engle, having previously made a documentary about her, so it's probable (especially given the author's history of protecting her books from being adapted badly for film) that L'Engle approved the changed story. If the story's author approves, then who am I to quibble?

I will say that I'm pleased with the casting. I'm not familiar with Mischa Barton, but I looked her up in the Internet Movie Database and she's the right age. Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman on Star Trek: Voyager) looks great as younger sister Suzy Austin. I'm a little dubious about Zoog movie veteran Ryan Merriman (Smart House, The Luck of the Irish) as Adam Eddington, but I'm willing to be convinced. He's cute as heck as a reluctant teenaged leprechaun in The Luck of the Irish, and I'm interested in seeing how he handles the more serious role of Adam. On the other hand, I have no reservations at all about Jared Padalecki playing Zachary Gray. He positively smoulders as the sometime boyfriend on The Gilmore Girls, and has a dark, rebellious, slightly vulnerable look that's perfect for bad boy Zach. James Whitmore, Sr., best known for his one-man shows as Will Rogers, should be suitably wise as Grandfather Eaton. As for Soren Futon, who plays Rob, I know nothing about him as an actor, but recently read that he donates money from his acting to fighting leprosy. Sounds like something Rob Austin might do!

Here are several links for more info :

IMDb: A Ring of Endless Light (TV)

mischabarton.net

The Official Scarlett Pomers Home page - Latest News

Ishtar Films

This has not been released on video to date.  If Disney does release it in the fullness of time, it will undoubtedly be listed on amazon.com. 

Madeleine L'Engle: Star*Gazer

This half-hour, direct to video documentary is a really cool thing for fans and teachers alike. It was produced and directed by Martha Wheelock, and narrated by Julie Harris. I believe it dates back to 1990, but I only found out about it in 2001. It is available from

Ishtar Films
11333 Moorpark St #460
Studio City, CA 91602
Phone: (800) 428-7136
Fax (818) 753-0040

Or order it online at Ishtar Films.com. (www.ishtarfilms.com). The cost is $20.00 plus $6.00 shipping.

Many thanks to Charlotte Jones and Martha Wheelock for the updates on the three films and other L'Engle news.

It's easy to see why I loved the book at the time.  Aside from being well-written, intellectually challenging and spiritually uplifting, it starred Meg Murry, a character who could have been me in other circumstances.  I was nearly Meg's age, I was bright, and I didn't fit in with other kids at school, either. In the book, Meg finds unexpected friendship and overcomes extreme difficulties, and maybe the story gave me hope that my life could get better, too.
 

A Wrinkle in Time was also a time travel story of sorts, giving me a taste of what has since become a major interest of mine.  Nearly every work of fiction I've ever deeply cared about, from Star Trek to Doctor Who, Anne McCaffrey's Pern books to the work of James Thurber, Back to the Future to Quantum Leap, has time travel in it somewhere.

When I was a little older, I found one other L'Engle book--and only one--in the card catalogue at Manlius Public Library in Manlius, New York.  It was Ilsa, and it prompted me to visit the downstairs (adult) section of the library for the first time, with special permission from the librarian. I only read about half of Ilsa at the time. Frankly, I didn't like it and wasn't ready for it. I didn't have another opportunity to read the book until 1996.

I still loved the story of Meg and Charles Wallace and Calvin in A Wrinkle in Time, and I liked the few other titles I eventually found at the Fayetteville Free Library.  When I discovered A Wind in the Door in hardback at Logos Books in Syracuse, I bought it eagerly. A Swiftly Tilting Planet  soon followed, and by the time I left college, got married, and moved to Columbus, Ohio, I had several L'Engle hardbacks of my own. I've been going to bookstores (new and used) and library book sales ever since.  I now have 80 L'Engle books, including multiple editions of some titles, plus audio tapes of the Time Trilogy and an interview, three books about Madeleine L'Engle and her work, and five books and six magazines to which L'Engle contributed a foreword, story or essay.

Until recently I had limited interest in the non-fiction titles, but my appreciation for them has grown in recent years, as has my appreciation for the more adult-oriented novels.  Even so, my favorite books of hers are still the ones about the Murrys and Austins and O'Keefes. I particularly enjoy the scope and depth of the world she has built up in her stories, as familiar characters and family names reappear in different books and even different series.  When Canon Tallis or Suzy Austin or Dr. Calvin O'Keefe turns up unexpectedly in one of her books, it's as if an old and dear friend has just appeared on my doorstep.

I've met Madeleine L'Engle exactly once, at a speaking engagement in Columbus, Ohio in the early-to-mid 1980s. She spoke about astronomy and other subjects, and afterward I had a thirty second conversation with her as she signed my copy of A Ring of Endless Light . I asked why Charles Wallace Murry hadn't appeared as an adult in any of her books, and whether that meant he was dead. Her answer was (as I recall): "Charles Wallace is alive and well until I hear otherwise."  One of her books eventually confirmed that Charles Wallace Murry was indeed alive as Poly and Charles O'Keefe were growing up, but was out of contact with the O'Keefes for some mysterious reason. I'd still love to read that story!  Lately I've also been wondering whether the parents of Meg and Charles and Sandy and Dennys had one or more adventures of their own before Meg was born.

Similarly, I've sent just two letters to Madeleine L'Engle all these years, although I've composed many more on paper, on my Mac or in my head.  The first letter I actually sent was about Many Waters. I was deeply disturbed at the time that as scientific a universe as that of the Murrys and O'Keefes could contain a literal Noah and his Ark, even in Earth's distant past. Madeleine promptly sent me a brief but courteous reply, even though (as she informed me) her husband, Hugh Franklin, had just died. I felt badly for having bothered her, albeit unknowingly, at such a time, but her compassion and courtesy only increased my already enormous respect for her, both as a writer and as a person. (My second letter to her, sent in May 2000, thanked her for my many years of enjoyment of her books, and offered my condolences about her son's death.)

Over the years, my collection of L'Engle books has continued to grow, and I've read my way through most of them many times over. Once, when I lost a new job I hated, my first reaction was, "Oh, good. Now I'll have more time to read my L'Engle books." (I did get upset, though, a few seconds later.)  Even when we had to move into a smaller house, and most of my books went into boxes, the L'Engle collection stayed out where I could get at it.

Every time I found a new book for the collection, I used to try to figure out what order to put the books in, and what I still needed, using the lists in the front of the various books as a guide. It didn't work very well. Many of the lists were far from complete, and what kind of book was A Cry Like a Bell, anyway?  So in 1996, I tried to solve this problem by going online, hoping to find a good bibliography so that I'd know what had been published and what sort of book each one was.  I was a little shocked to discover that there did not appear to be a complete listing of Madeleine L'Engle's books anywhere online, at least that the search engines I tried could find.  (I have since learned that there are several major L'Engle sites, although search engines tend not to find them.) I therefore compiled my own listing from various sources, primarily my own book collection, and put the result online myself.

Since then, I've learned a lot, cataloging further titles from the several online sources I failed to find originally, from readers' email, from Amazon.com, and from whatever notes I could scribble at Borders Books & Music or at Barnes & Noble. In addition, through Carole Chase's book, various online sources and readers of this web site, I've learned of many other titles, especially books to which L'Engle contributed only a short story (always "Poor Little Saturday") or a foreword or introduction. As a result, this site is undergoing a series of upgrades, which will probably take me well into 2001 to complete.

About this Web Site

For space reasons, the crossover information (i.e., characters who appear in other books) is sketchy at best in the table below.  A good albeit outdated guide to crossovers and character family trees is found at the beginning of Many Waters. My in-depth bibliography pages by series, accessible from The Novels of Madeleine L'Engle, includes hyperlinked references to many of the major crossover characters. Another fan web site, "Flying Dreams," has an in-depth discussion of both crossover characters and the characters who are related (ancestors, cousins, spouses, etc.) to the characters in other books. See the novels page linked above for a link to this other site. Any additions, corrections, or clarifications will be gratefully accepted. I would also appreciate hearing from book dealers and others who can sell me copies of the out of print titles I still need (the ones listed in maroon).

When this web site is completed, if ever, there will be more specific information on each book's category, binding, ISBN number, publishers, etc., all found on separate pages devoted to particular categories of books. So far I've managed to do this only with the novels. Any help with publisher and binding details will be greatly appreciated, since I do not own every edition of every book, and online bookstores are often less than specific in this respect. My goal is to make this web site as complete and accurate as possible.

Each page about the various fictional series will also eventually include brief biographical sketches of the major characters introduced in the books listed on that page. I've tried to build a master timeline, but it didn't work, given the contradictions and very tenuous clues to the "kairos" and "chronos" in the various books. I have, however, created a list of the approximate order in which the books take place. That can be found on my The Novels of Madeleine L'Engle page.

*Prelude is a revised version of The Small Rain, intended for younger readers. The novel was later republished under the original title.

**The O'Keefe family consists of the former Meg Murry of the Murry family, her husband, Dr. Calvin O'Keefe (who also appears in the Murry family novels), and their many children, especially Poly (later called Polly) and Charles.

***Glimpses of Grace is a collection of inspirational quotations from L'Engle's other books, selected by Carole F Chase, who also wrote a literary biography titled Madeleine L'Engle, Suncatcher: Spiritual Vision of a Storyteller  (San Diego: LuraMedia, 1995).  An expanded version of this book was published by Innisfree Press in August 1998 as Suncatcher: A Study of Madeleine L'Engle and Her Writing. I am indebted to Ms. Chase for some of the bibliographical and biographical data provided here, taken both from her book and from her email.  Thank you!

Books That Aren't Listed Here (Yet):

For some time now I've been compiling a list of books to which Madeleine L'Engle has contributed an introduction, or a foreword, or an afterword, or an essay, or even a short story or poem. In other words, they are books primarily written by other people, but contain some material by Madeleine L'Engle. A few notable examples are First Words: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors, the introduction to a compendium of Curious George stories, Miracles of Christmas (which probably has the short story "Miracle on 10th Street" in it), and Second Sight: Stories for a New Millennium, which features a short story about Rob Austin. I hope to have the list compiled and online sometime in the next month or so, if I can drag myself away from the novels I'm revising for submission long enough to do the work!

Books That Don't Exist:

I've also come across references to the following titles, which appear to have been announced but never published:

101st Miracle: I went back to the web reference for this and it was gone. It was supposedly a collection of Madeleine L'Engle's early short stories. Or was it her early work in general? In either case, it does not exist, except as the title of a short story. Too bad, because I know of only three works of early short fiction that can still be found. One is "Poor Little Saturday" (1956) which is in several anthologies. The second is "Six Good People," a story she wrote at age 15 which appears along with some early L'Engle poetry in a book called First Words: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors. According to Madeline Trotter (thanks for the info!), the short story "The One Hundred and First Miracle" appeared in a 1983 anthology calld Nine Visions: A Book of Fantasies, edited by Andrea LaSonde Melrose.  This is probably out of print, but may still turn up used.

Still, the possibility remains that a collection of early L'Engle short stories may eventually be compiled and published. We'll just have to wait and see.

Moses: Prince of Egypt. This is referenced in the later edition of Suncatcher by Carole F Chase, and a reader named Cindy found a reference to it at one time on Barnes & Noble's web site as well as on the Amazon site. When she ordered it, she received a children's book by someone else, which was based on the Prince of Egypt movie. No current online references to this book actually let you order it , so I assume it never came out, at least not as written by Madeleine L'Engle.

My Own Private Place. Various readers have also found references to this title, particularly on the Barnes & Noble site. Like Moses: Prince of Egypt, it almost certainly has never been published as of 3/02.  Someone recently emailed me that a book by this title does exist. If so, however, it is not an entire book by Madeleine L'Engle.

At least some of the above books were probably postponed or canceled due to Madeleine L'Engle's health difficulties in 1999-2000.

In addition to all this, online used book listings are often sloppily written, leading to offerings of books with familiar but nonexistent titles. I've seen listings for A Ring of Endless Night, The Other Side of the Son, The Young Unicorn and several other incorrect titles, all because someone barely glanced at the cover of the book being sold. My favorite bogus title is from an old eBay listing, which offered a trade paperback novel called Madeleine L'Engle by the nonexistent author Mary Waters!

Thanks to Carole F. Chase, Chris Smith, Signe Myhren, Jim Meadows, Jennifer Guimond, Kathy Ching, Alan Balthrop, Jamie Jensen and many other L'Engle fans for their suggestions and encouragement. Most of all, thanks to Madeleine L'Engle for making this web site necessary (not to mention fun!).