Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2009.Summary
Miranda, a sixth grader living in New York City in a small apartment with her single mother, starts receiving mysterious notes implying there will be some kind of tragedy in her future. To prove that the author of the notes is right, he predicts future events for Miranda. From her Christmas present to her mother appearing on a TV game show, all of these events are true. Meanwhile, Miranda also has other things to deal with like her best friend Sal getting beat up by a random boy on the street and not speaking to her again, getting a new best friend, Annemarie, and having Annemarie's old best friend get jealous, avoiding the crazy homeless man who lives outside her building, and trying to figure out time travel with her classmate and boy who beat up Sal, Marcus.
Eventually, after the tragedy Miranda was warned about in her mysterious notes, we learn that Marcus does understand time travel and that he is the crazy homeless person. The story ends poignantly with everything and everyone learning how they are connected in Miranda's life.
Impressions
This is a fantastic book. I love the characters and the format and the story. It's incredibly hard to put down! It captures perfectly the feeling of being 12 and trying to deal with everyday things while larger stresses keep piling up, plus there's an exciting element mystery- but the mystery is written in such a way that it is completely believable. The twist of time travel does end up being a surprise even though Miranda and Marcus have been arguing about it the entire book, and the homeless man being Marcus makes perfect sense and makes a beautiful end to a funny, heart-warming story.
Reviews
Kirkus Reviews, 11/15/2009, Vol. 77 Issue 22, Special Section p16. Retrieved September 19, 2010 from Academic Search Premier database.
"A science-fiction tale firmly rooted in reality, When You Reach Me is the written correspondence between Miranda, a latchkey kid growing up in New York City during the 1970s, and the time traveler she has yet to meet. In order to prevent a tragedy Miranda must tell the truth about her sixth-grade year. "You won't be yourself when you reach me," Miranda writes to the mysterious stranger, "but you will get the job done." Rebecca Stead successfully reveals two important portals to the future--time travel and preadolescence. "It's kind of a special time," says Stead, when kids realize, "life is so much more complicated than I thought--and it's not all about me." Like the heroine of her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time, Miranda struggles just as much with immaturity as she does with the laws of physics. With issues ranging from her mom's embarrassing wardrobe to her sudden estrangement from her friend Sal, Miranda learns that growing apart is part of growing up. "A lot of my strongest memories about friendship come from the making and the breaking and the discovering," says Stead. Like all preadolescents, she said, Miranda discovers the "ability to look at people from a slightly wiser point of view." (Ages 10-14)"
Edinger, Monica. Children's Books; Summer Reading Chronicle. New York Times, Sunday Book Review, Sunday August 13, 2009. Accessed September 19, 2010 from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05EEDD1E30F935A2575BC0A96F9C8B63&ref=bookreviews.
"In this era of supersize children's books, Rebecca Stead's 'When You Reach Me' looks positively svelte. But don't be deceived: In this taut novel, every word, every sentence, has meaning and substance. A hybrid of genres, it is a complex mystery, a work of historical fiction, a school story and one of friendship, with a leitmotif of time travel running through it. Most of all the novel is a thrilling puzzle. Stead piles up clues on the way to a moment of intense drama, after which is pretty much impossible to stop reading until the last page."
Suggestions for Library Use
This book would make a magnificent addition to any Newberry Award feature, display, and certainly collection. It should be promoted by librarians as an appropriate and excellent book for ages 12+. If your library does after school reading programs with older children, this would be a wonderful reading group book to learn about the importance of being a good friend and how to maintain friendships.
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