A Wrinkle in Time Book Club ~ An Out of this World Party School

Twinkle star lights, chalk nebulae, liverwurst sandwiches, and a jello brain were just some of the interesting things that made up our A Wrinkle in Time Book Club this month.

This month our book club was about the book, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. This award-winning book is a story about accepting who you are and good triumphing over evil. It is also one of the most controversial children books and has been banned in multiple locations. And, it was one of my favorite books as a kid, though it took me a while to remember why.

This book appealed so much to me as a middle schooler -- something about the "good vs. evil" wrapped up in science fiction and fantasy pulled me in. But as an adult reading it, I saw so much more and, quite honestly, it made me uncomfortable. What was the author trying to say? What was moral to this story?

I came to the slow realization that as a kid, I enjoyed it for its face value. I wanted to be Meg. I wanted to be brave, but scared. I wanted to save the world and discover I was so much more than my preteen, angst-ridden, self could imagine. I didn't dwell on the science or the mystery or the allusions to religion. I'm sure I read that, but I was more interested in how much I related to feeling awkward and alone as a preteen. And so this book has lived in my mind as one of my favorite books from 7th grade.

Sometimes I have a hard time deciding on snacks, but this month they were pretty easy. Because IT was a brain, the jello brain-mold was a "no-brainer" (hee hee, I crack myself up).  I just happened to have a brain mold lying around the kitchen (no seriously, I did) for those times when only a wiggly somewhat-disgusting-flesh-colored-brain will suffice. I used watermelon jello with a few drops of green food coloring and evaporated milk to make the brain. It was delicious and mostly all eaten by a bunch of cannibalistic preteen girls.

After the kids finished their snacks, we talked a bit about the and whether or not they liked the book. There were mixed feelings in the group. Most liked it, but didn't understand all the aspects of math, science and religion. Some, including my daughter, didn't care for it at all. But, book club isn't always about loving the book. It's about opening our minds to new types of literature and experiencing new worlds through the written word.

Next, we pulled out our chalk pastels, black construction paper and this really cool nebula tutorial from Hodge Podge. We had so much fun creating our nebula, that we also decided to paint some spiral galaxies and get into the whole space and stars atmosphere.

We also decided to build a tesseract. I gave each student a tub of play doh and some toothpicks. I let them work for several minutes, but alas they could never figure out how to get a cube into the 4th dimension. But they did create some pretty awesome designs.

We finished our book club with a basketball game à la Calvin. The kids had a blast at their Out of This World book club.

For years we have enjoyed book clubs. I began them as a way to add joy, excitement, and adventure to our homeschool. Recently, I began sharing these with others and it has evolved into an online book club where I add rabbit trails of discovery and a sprinkle of magic dust.

I have created an online book club for A Wrinkle in Time. It has all the elements of a full, rich literature unit study, but I've done all the work for you.