Novel Questions:
CHAPTER 1:
1. Meg's parents have assured her that she's not dumb. Why do you think Meg is doing
so badly in school? Why does she think she's dumb? What would you say or do to help
Meg to improve her feelings about herself?
2. List Meg's problems. Which one do you think is the most important?
3. How is Charles Wallace different from most five year olds?
4. As the story begins, what had happened during the day to upset Meg?
5. What was Meg's opinion of herself? Give specific examples.
6. What did people think of Charles Wallace? Why?
7. Describe Mrs. Murry. How do you feel about her?
8. What did you learn about Meg's father in chapter 1?
9. What is your first impression about Charles Wallace?
10. What is your first impression about Mrs. Whatsit?
11. Did Meg's and Charles Wallace's parents understand them? How do you know?
Give a specific example.
12. List and describe the main characters that were introduced in chapter 1.
13. Why does Meg have a big bruise under one eye? What does this say about her?
14. Where is Meg's room in the Murry's house? Why was she afraid during the night
in chapter 1?
15. Name Megs 3 brothers.
16. What do the other kids in school and the town think about Charles Wallace?
Explain if this is true.
17. Who did Charles Wallace meet when he was looking for Fotinbras in the woods?
18. Who came in out of the storm with Mrs. Murry all bundled up in clothes and
rubber boots?
19. What had the "tramp: stolen from Mrs. Buncombe?
20. Why has Mrs. Whatsit come to visit?
21. What does Mrs. Whatsit say that disturbs Mrs. Murry at the end of chapter 1?
.
CHAPTER 2:
1. Do you think Mr. Jenkins had a right to question Meg about her Father? Explain.
2. What do you think has happened to Meg's father? What clues in the book (ch 1-2)
support your opinion?
3. How do Meg and Charles Wallace differ in their opinions of Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs.
Who? What is YOUR opinion of these two ladies?
4. Why did Mr. Jenkins call Meg into his office? What were some of the things they
talked about?
5. Why was Meg upset about the conference with Mr. Jenkins?
6. What did you find out about Calvin in ch 2? Who is your FIRST impression of him?
7. What did you learn from Mrs. Who?
8. Why did Calvin feel he was going home when he came to the Murry house?
9. What did the statement mean, "You don't need to understand things from them
to be?"
10. Why does Calvin go for a walk to the "haunted house?"
11. Why did Mrs. Who take the sheets?
.
CHAPTER 3:
1. What more did you learn about Meg in chapter 3?
2. Why do you think Calvin was so happy at the Murry's?
3. What did the government tell Mrs. Murry about her husband's absence?
4. What was your first impression of Mrs. Which?
5. Venn: compare Meg's mother and Calvin's mother. How does Meg's attitude toward
her own family change after she hears about Calvin's mom?
6. Have you changed you mind about what has happened to Meg's father? What new
clues have been given in the chapter?
7. Predict what kind of beings the their weird ladies are. Where did they come from?
What are their powers, etc.?

CHAPTER 4:
1. What do you think the Black Thing is?
2. Compare and contrast Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which.
3. This chapter has a lot of description of setting. How do these descriptions
create a feeling of good or evil for the reader? List SPECIFIC words or phrases that
help create each mood.
4. Describe Meg's experience at the beginning of chapter 4. How did she feel the
first time she travels by "wrinkling" through time?
5. How did Mrs. Whatsit change (how is she different on Uriel)?
6. Describe Uriel.
7. Describe the Black Thing as the children FIRST saw it (with Mrs. Whatsit).
8. What do YOU think the Black Thing is in the world TODAY?
9. Why does Mrs. Who use quotations?
10. Why are the kids going on this trip?
11. What are the magic flowers used for?


CHAPTER 5:
1. What are the five dimensions described in this chapter? Give your own example of
something that is one-, two-, and three-dimensional.
2. Mrs. Whatsit says that our planet is such a troubled one because of the Black
Thing. What are some ways in which Earth is trouble? How do you think we can fight
against these problems?
3. What are some personality traits of the Happy Medium? Give an example of
something the Happy Medium did to demonstrate each of these traits. Do you think
her name is appropriate?
4. Why won't Mrs. Murry miss her children?
5. What did the Happy Medium allow the children to see?
6. What was the Dark Thing? Why does Mrs. Whatsit want the kids to see the Dark
Thing?
7. Why can't the children breathe as they are about to materialize on a second
dimensional planet? (Mrs. Which made a mistake by trying to take them to this place.)
8. Can Mrs. Whatsit's age be counted in trillions, billions, millions, thousands, or
hundreds or Earth years?

CHAPTER 6:
1.Meg tells the Happy Medium that when she’s mad she doesn’t have room to be scared
Do you think it would be better for Meg to me mad or scared in THIS
SITUATION? What are some of the pitfalls of each emotion.
2.What are Meg’s faults? How could they be useful?
3.Should the children enter CENTRAL Central Intelligence Building or not (in your
opinion). List several reasons for AND against.
4.What did the children find out about Mrs. Whatsit?
5.What was Calvin’s great gift?
6.What things were “given” to the children?
7.Describe Camazotz (use details).
8.What did the children find strange about the people of Camazotz?
9.What is a non-conformist? How were non-conformists treated on Camazotz?

CHAPTER 7:
1.What do you think the man who runs the number one spelling machine means by the
following statement? What do these statements tell you about like on Camazotz?
a. “…until it can be properly oiled…there is danger of jammed minds”
b. “…rather than run the risk myself of processing I must report you.”
2.What were some of the things the children did to try to resist the red-eyed man in
his attempt to control their minds? What other suggestions would you give to the
children to help them remain free of this man’s control?
3.Why do you think it is more important to the red-eyed man for Charles Wallace to
understand him than for Meg or Calvin (who are older)?
4.What might Meg and Calvin do to try to rescue Charles Wallace from the red-eyed man?
5.Describe (with details) the man with the red eyes (other than having red eyes and
being a man).
6.What do you think happened to Charles Wallace in this point of the book?

CHAPTER 8:
1.At the beginning of the book Meg wished she was like everyone else. How do you
think her visit to Camazotz might have changed her opinion?
2.Explain the following quotes for this chapter. Tell WHY you agree or disagree with
them.
a.“On Camazotz we are all happy because we are all alike.”
b.“Maybe if you aren’t unhappy sometimes, you don’t know how to be happy.”
c.“We believe that everyone with a disease, even the common cold, should be
annihilated, as on Camazotz.”
3.Find several descriptive phrases in this chapter that relate physical changes in
Charles Wallace that show he was under the control of the red-eyed man.
4.What is peer pressure? Do you and most of your friends want to be like everyone
else? Do you go along with the crown even though you know what they are doing is
wrong? Are you more apt to go along with the crowd or follow your own way? Based on
your answers, would you be able to say, “No!” to the man with the red eyes?
5. What was Charles Wallace’s explanation for war and unhappiness on earth?

CHAPTER 9:
1.What did Meg think about to keep IT from controlling her mind? What would be the
best thing for you to do or think about if YOU were in Meg’s place?
2.How did Meg get through the column to her father?
3.What is “IT”?
4.What do you think Meg means when she says “Like and equal are not the same thing at
all?” Why do you agree or disagree with Meg?

CHAPTER 10-12:
1.Why did “IT” get Charles Wallace and not Meg and Calvin?
2.Why did they tesser without Charles Wallace?
3.Do you think Mr. Murray made the right decision when he tessered Meg and Calvin off
Camazotz? What other decision could he have made? What would the outcome have been
if he had made a different decision? EXPLAIN.
4.Was it fair of Meg to be upset with her father? Why or why not? How do you think
Meg’s attitude affected her father?
5.Describe the creatures on the “gray planet.”
6.How does Meg’s first impression of the gray creatures change? What do you think
caused her to have such a negative first impression? How could the saying, “You can’t
judge a book by its cover? Apply to the creatures?

7.Could you explain sight to someone who had never had sight? HOW?
8.Why does Meg have so much difficulty communicating with the beasts of Ixchel?
9.Aunt Beast tells Meg, “We look not on the things which are what you would call seen,
but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal
(look up if needed). But the things which are not seen are eternal.” Think of an
example to illustrate this quotation.
10.Why couldn’t Meg explain who Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Which were?
11.Look back through the book and read the final sentence or two from each chapter.
What do you notice about the way Madeleine L’Engle ends each chapter? How does this
technique make the reader feel?

12.What did Ms. Whatsit mean when she said, “If we knew ahead of time what was going
to happen we’d be like the people of Camazotz…”? Why did she compare life on earth to
a sonnet? (you may need to look up the definition of “sonnet.”)?
13.Why did Meg have to go back alone to get Charles Wallace?
14.What did Meg have that “IT” didn’t have?
15.How did Meg save Charles Wallace?
16.What did Mrs. Which mean when she said, “You are going to allow Meg the privilege
of accepting this danger?” How could danger be a privilege?
17.What if Meg had been able to truly love “IT”? What results do you think this would
have had?
18.What can you tell about the beliefs of Madeleine L’Engle from reading the her
book? What do you think she believes about life and travel in outer space, good and
evil, individual differences, etc? Where do you agree with her beliefs and where do
you disagree?













Novel Vocabulary: Chapter 1
patchwork quilt, frenzied, lashing, scudded, frantically, wraithlike,
grammar-school, delinquent, smugly, vicious
serenity, uncanny, rickety, savagely, luxuriously, crevices, sash, tramp, constable,
subsided
vulnerable, abandoned, subnormal, preliminaries, diction, serenely, exclusive,
prodigious,
subdued, admiration
sullen, resentment, moderation, straightforward, repulsive, exclusive, prickle, Bunsen
burner,
briskly, shrill, stole (that you wear), paisley
sparse, intoned, cunning, liniment, dignity, supine, agility, relinquished, Argyle,
wriggling,
frivoling



Novel Vocabulary: Chapter 2
jangling, unceremoniously, piteous, trotted, concept, gyp, morons, dutifully,
sarcastic,
flounced, sulkily, gesture, warily, barbed, avid, physicist, bared, ferocious,
bellowing,
belligerent, antagonistic, tractable, cross, apt, fragrant, snide, sagely,
inadvertently,
furiously, haunches, indignation, third degree, placidly, peculiar, sport, smug,
disillusion, compulsion, constraint, obligation, probingly, dilapidated, sinister,
raucous, ratatat-tat, scuttled, stifled, shriek, props, recesses, dilapidated,
spectacles,
jabbing, peremptory (per-uh mp-tawr-ee), gesture, fluttered, quiver, assimilate, gaily






Novel Vocabulary: Chapter 3

gamboled, retort, bitter (voice), wryly, somber, judiciously, indignant, briskly,
sullen,
decipher, one-sided, protested, leafing, conceive, essence, dubiously, Genesis,
dappled,
gnarled, morass, pursueing, tangible, contradicted, plaintively, wafted, deft,
gesture, paltry,
indignantly, materialize



Novel Vocabulary: Chapter 4

extinguished, abruptly, corporeal, limbs, tangible, void, inexorable, quiver, glint,
ineffable, askew, vaguely, intoned, indignantly, ephemeral, solemn, apprehension,
flanks, nobly,
torso, virtue, exaltation, centaur, metamorphose, clambered, serenely, monoliths,
delved,
anguished, resonant, incomprehensible, dwindled, sparse, obscure, unobscured, rigid,
materialize



Novel Vocabulary: Chapter 5
dissolution, coursed, indignant, garb, substantial, protoplasm, corporeal,
plaintively,
nondescript, loomed, subsided, mauve, raptly, sonorous, curtsied, reverberated,
tentatively




Novel Vocabulary: Chapter 6
1. seethe, writhe, solemnly, anticlimax, faltered, chiding, ambrosia, solidify,
clarify,
unkept, myopic, tweaked (as in nose), eon, impersonal, clammy, tangible, malignant,
materialized, precipitously, poised, propitious, talisman, resilience, peril,
vulnerable,
arrogance, angular, outskirts, vaguely, simultaneously, furtive, stifle, reluctant,
obvious,
briskly, aberration, oriented, severely, peculiar, stern, flickered