A Wrinkle Needing Ironing

At the used bookstore, I picked up Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, which I remember liking as a kid, and the nice old lady there said, "When you read it as an adult, it's so much better."

Mmmmm, well, no, that was not my experience.

The main character, Meg, is a good YA heroine. She gets picked on for being smart. She acts out. She's impatient. I can dig it. I spent most of junior high not living up to my potential.

But she never gets to do anything with that personality. In fact, she ba...