I love graphic novels. I read graphic novels for adults (like The Squirrel Mother ). I just ordered Gene Yang’s Prime Baby for my son (and for me). But I am not sure I’m ready for the graphic novel version of A Wrinkle in Time . Frankly, I don’t even like seeing it with different cover art than the particular paperback I treasured as a kid. A Wrinkle in Time is hardly the first classic to get the graphic treatment. There are graphic novel versions of everything from Crime and Punishment to Through the Looking Glass . But it’s such a beloved icon for multiple generations of dreamy, bookish girls who saw the world through Meg’s spectacles (obviously including me) and it hasn’t been particularly well treated in adaptation before (for example, the made-for-TV Disney movie version, of which Madeleine L’Engle herself said “I have glimpsed it … I expected it to be bad, and it is.”
Hope Larsen is an artist, and the work she’s done on her own graphic novels is wonderful: thoughtful, well-developed, nuanced. Of the adaptation, she said “This is a dream project. Wrinkle is one of my favorite books, and Madeline L’Engle is one of my favorite authors and a huge influence on my storytelling.” She’s a perfect choice, that is, if the world needs an adaptation at all. It has to be said that she recognizes the challenges. She promised, in her blog announcement, to treat the book with respect and stick as close to the original story as possible (hello, Disney). I am trying to see this as an addition, rather than a subtraction-another way for kids to come to the story-but honestly, as much as I respect Larsen’s work, I don’t really want my daughter to see Camazotz via Larsen’s vision, instead of her own.
