I liked it a lot, but I think the book deals with things that are more for adults but with a narrative for teenagers, it has an interesting approach when it comes to denouncing social problems.
Summary
One night, thirteen-year-old Meg Murry meets an eccentric new neighbor, Mrs. Whatsit, who refers to something called a tesseract. She later discovers that it is a scientific concept her father was working on before her mysterious disappearance. The next day, Meg, her boy genius brother Charles, and their schoolmate Calvin visit Mrs. Whatsit's house, where the equally strange Mrs. Who and the unseen voice of Mrs. Which promise to help Meg find her way. find and rescue his father.
Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which turn out to be supernatural beings who transport Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin O'Keefe through the universe by means of a tesseract, a fifth-dimensional phenomenon explained as the folding of the fabric of space and time. . ; this way of traveling is called tessing. Your first stop is the planet Uriel, a utopian world filled with centaur-like beings who live in a state of light and love. The Mrs. Ws reveal to the children that the universe is under attack by an evil being who appears as a large dark cloud called The Black Thing, who is essentially evil personified. The children are taken to Orion's Belt to visit the Happy Medium, a woman with a crystal ball through which they see that the Earth is partially covered in darkness, although great religious figures, philosophers, scientists and artists have been fighting her. Mrs Whatsit is revealed to be a former star who blew herself up in an act of self-sacrifice to fight the darkness.
The children travel to the dark planet of Camazotz, which has succumbed to the Black Thing and where Meg's father is trapped because he would not succumb to the group mind that makes the inhabitants behave mechanically. To find her father, Charles Wallace deliberately hypnotizes himself. He leads Meg and Calvin to the place where Meg's father, Alexander, is being held prisoner. Charles Wallace then leads them to TI, the evil disembodied brain with powerful abilities who controls the planet. Using the special powers of Mrs. Who's glasses, Alexander takes Calvin, Meg, and himself to the planet Ixchel before IT can control them all. Charles Wallace stays behind, still under TI's influence, and Meg is paralyzed from injuries sustained during the journey. An inhabitant of the planet with featureless faces, tentacles, and four arms proves to be wise and gentle and cures Meg's paralysis, leading her to nickname her "Aunt Beast".
The trio of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which arrive and task Meg with rescuing Charles Wallace from IT. Arriving at the building where TI resides, they find Charles Wallace under TI's influence. Inspired by Mrs. W's clues, Meg focuses all of her love on Charles Wallace and succeeds in freeing him from TI's control. Afterwards, everyone returns to Earth and Mrs. W leaves.
