Guide · Fantasy
Books like A Wrinkle in Time
Steve DressingUpdated
The best books like A Wrinkle in Time send a smart kid somewhere strange to fight something huge. Start with the sequels, A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Then try When You Reach Me, The Dark Is Rising or The Mysterious Benedict Society, and The Giver for an older reader. All 10 picks are below, each with its age range.
A Wrinkle in Time sends a smart, stubborn kid across space to fight something enormous. Every book below has some of that: a trip through space or time, a fight against a great darkness, gifted kids who don't fit in, or a world that looks perfect until it isn't. I wrote one of them, a space novel with a girl at the center, and it's marked. The rest are by other authors, and the age range on each card comes from the publisher or a bookseller. For more science fiction, see space books for girls 10 to 14 and books like The Wild Robot.
If your kid hasn't read the rest of the series, start there. A Wind in the Door (1973) sends Meg inside her sick brother, Charles Wallace, to save him. A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978) won a National Book Award. Square Fish lists both for 10 to 14. For a kid who'd rather see the first book, Hope Larson adapted it as A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel (2012), listed for 9 to 12.
Quick picks
- Wants a mystery with time travel: When You Reach Me, ages 8–12
- Wants an epic fight against the dark: The Dark Is Rising, ages 8–12
- Likes puzzles: The Mysterious Benedict Society, ages 8–12
- Wants another world: The Golden Compass, ages 10 and up
- Liked Camazotz best: The Giver, ages 10 and up
- Wants a girl in space: A Complicated Journey, ages 10–14
Across space and time
Two books about a girl working out where, or when, she is.
FIC
STE
When You Reach Me
In Manhattan in 1979, sixth grader Miranda starts getting unsigned notes that predict things before they happen. Whoever is writing says they're coming to save a life. Miranda carries A Wrinkle in Time everywhere, and its time travel helps her work out the mystery.
It won the 2010 Newbery Medal. Near the end, a man dies pushing a boy out of the way of a truck.
FIC
DIT
The Search for WondLa
Twelve-year-old Eva Nine has been raised underground by a robot named Muthr. When her home is attacked, she escapes to the surface, a world full of strange creatures, and looks for other humans like her. All she has to go on is a scrap of cardboard showing a girl, a grown-up and a robot.
It's 496 pages, with the author's own illustrations, and the first of a trilogy. The age range is from Publishers Weekly.
My book belongs here. In A Complicated Journey, Colleen Freeman is a young genius training for a mission to new planets. When a large object starts heading toward Earth, she and her companion robots have to save the planet first. It's written for 10 to 14, the same ages Square Fish lists for A Wrinkle in Time.
Steve wrote this one
A Complicated Journey
Colleen Freeman is training to visit planets that might hold life. Then something enormous starts heading for Earth.
Novel · Ages 10–14 · By Steve Dressing
Kids against a great darkness
Three books where a kid ends up in a fight much bigger than they are, the way Meg does.
FIC
COO
The Dark Is Rising
On his eleventh birthday, which is also Midwinter Day, Will Stanton learns he is the last of the Old Ones, who fight to keep the Dark from taking over the world. He has to find six magical Signs while a rider sent by the Dark hunts him.
A 1974 Newbery Honor book, and the second of five books in the series.
FIC
PUL
The Golden Compass
In Lyra's world, every person has an animal companion called a daemon. When her best friend Roger disappears, taken by a group rumored to experiment on children, she travels to the far North, where armored bears and witches rule.
In the UK it's called Northern Lights, and it won the 1995 Carnegie Medal. Roger dies at the end, and the later books in the trilogy take on organized religion.
FIC
LEW
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Four siblings step through a wardrobe into Narnia, which the White Witch has frozen in endless winter. When the lion Aslan returns, the winter starts to break, at a cost.
Aslan is killed and comes back to life. It was the first Narnia book published, though HarperCollins now numbers it second in the series.
Gifted misfits on a mission
Two books about clever kids who are bored, or overlooked, until someone sends them somewhere strange.
FIC
STE
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Dozens of gifted kids answer a newspaper ad and sit through a series of strange tests. Four pass, and they're sent undercover to the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened to find out what's hidden in its tunnels.
It runs 496 pages and is the first of a series.
FIC
JUS
The Phantom Tollbooth
Milo is bored with everything until a tollbooth shows up in his room. He drives through it into the Lands Beyond, picks up a ticking watchdog named Tock and sets out to rescue Rhyme and Reason.
It's full of puns and wordplay, so it's a fun one to read aloud.
Worlds that look perfect, until they don't
If the scariest part of A Wrinkle in Time was Camazotz, where everyone does everything in the same rhythm, try these two.
FIC
LOW
The Giver
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a community with no pain, no color and no choices. He's chosen to be the next Receiver of Memory, and as the old Receiver, the Giver, passes him memories of the world before, Jonas learns what the community hides.
It won the 1994 Newbery Medal. Jonas learns that being "released" means being killed, including a newborn, and the ending is left open. It suits the older end of the range. The age range is from Publishers Weekly.
FIC
DUP
The City of Ember
Ember was built as humanity's last refuge, and after about two hundred years its great lamps are failing. Lina finds part of an old message she thinks could save the city, and she and her friend Doon race to work out its clues.
An ALA Notable Children's Book, and the first of four Ember books.
Giving one as a gift
- Pair A Wrinkle in Time with When You Reach Me. Miranda carries L'Engle's book through the whole story.
- For a kid who wants the whole series, Square Fish sells the five Wrinkle in Time books as a boxed set.
- Shopping for a grandkid? See Book gifts for grandkids, ages 4 to 14.
Questions parents ask
What should my kid read after A Wrinkle in Time?
Start with the sequels, A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. After that, When You Reach Me is the closest match: its main character loves A Wrinkle in Time, and the mystery turns on time travel.
What's like A Wrinkle in Time for a 10 year old?
When You Reach Me, The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Dark Is Rising are all listed for 8 to 12. A Complicated Journey is written for 10 to 14.
What's like A Wrinkle in Time for a 12 year old?
The Giver and The Golden Compass are both listed for 10 and up, and both are heavier than A Wrinkle in Time. The Search for WondLa is a long science fiction adventure with a girl at the center.
Is there a graphic novel of A Wrinkle in Time?
Yes. Hope Larson adapted it in 2012, and booksellers list it for 9 to 12.
Where can I find these books?
Each title above links to its publisher or an independent bookseller. Most libraries carry them too. A Complicated Journey ships from this site.
