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I feel sacrilegious in rating this book with just 2 stars. I almost “graded�� it higher.

I apologize to everyone who loves this book. I’ve gotten over it now, but for years I was extremely perturbed when others I knew didn’t love A Wrinkle in Time and some of my other favorites.

I apologize to The Muskrat (who is a real hoot) and to Moominmamma (because she really is a great character) and some of the other characters too. I apologize to the author because there were glimmers and glimpses throughout the book of a book I’d have found great, including a few choice lines that I appreciated greatly.

Thanks to all the members of the Children's Books group who kept me motived to continue reading by explaining why they loved this book/series in this thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3..., and who also gave some specific information helpful to enjoying the story, including a link to a character list. And thanks to my old ŷ������ friend Jenny (who unfortunately left ŷ������ shortly after she’d joined �� we used to incessantly discuss the book Into the Forest at a time when very, very few ŷ������ members had shelved it and when only two of my real world friends had read it) who was (I think) from Finland and who raved about these books, which is why I read an owned copy.

I had an excruciatingly difficult time getting into this story. I felt irritable while reading it. If not for the help I received from the Children's Books group members in understanding the book and its background, I doubt I'd have enjoyed it at all. This might be due, in part, to my mood at the time of reading it and my stage of life.

It didn’t help that I needed a magnifying glass to read the letter to the reader and the map (yes, this book does have one of my beloved maps!) at the beginning of the book.

There are hints of psychological sophistication and wry humor, and it seems to be the kind of tale I “should�� enjoy.

I hated the positive depiction of tobacco.

I loved the mother sending the kids to the cave until they were in better moods and really enjoyed it when the house turned into/grew overgrown with foliage because of the magic hat.

I eventually warmed to the characters, though I do wish I had first read the book where they were first introduced: Comet in Moominland because I might have enjoyed them from the beginning rather than being confused by them; in this book there is a lack of introduction to the world/characters. I also ended up enjoying some of the events that take place. However, I didn’t like the writing style, which I blame on the translation. (Never have I wished so fervently that I could read Swedish or Finnish.)

This book has the same feel to me as Winnie-the-Pooh, other books I never read as a child but read one of them only after I was a ŷ������ member. I liked that one better than this, even though the sense of humor in this is much more sophisticated and probably better able to be appreciated by adults as well as by children.

The illustrations were very cute, but I think I’d have enjoyed them more if I’d known something, anything, about the characters before I’d started reading.

I will keep thinking and if I ever read the earlier book, I’ll try to reread this book too and see if I like it any better the second time around.

And, pay no attention to me, but take a look at the ratings breakdown for this book. Obviously. I’m not a typical reader of this book.