When you reach me

Stead, R. (2009). When you reach me. Wendy Lamb Books.

In her book, When you reach me, author Rebecca Stead presents the story of a young girl named Miranda. Though living a fairly typical childhood up until then, Miranda’s world is rocked when her best friend and neighbor decides he no longer wants to be friends with her.  Around this same time, she starts to receive notes from a mysterious stranger. These notes ask her to jot down future events, but she ignores them. As the story progresses, more notes are discovered and she is starting to find something is definitely weird. Through a series of crazy events, the homeless man that lives across the street from Miranda ends up saving her friend’s life by pushing him out of harm’s way and sacrificing himself in the process. It is in this way that she figures out that the homeless man was actually the future self of a boy who had bullied her friend, Sal. The letters were meant to be a guide for her to help him.

                I believe the strong points for Stead’s book are in its plot, style, and characters. The plot was very inventive and new to me based on what I’ve read in this age group. The story has definite science fiction components but somehow stays primarily anchored in reality. That is also reinforced by the description of her neighborhood in New York complete with homeless man in the street corner. The subtleness, with which the author brings in the theme of time travel, is what gives this story its unique style as well. Lastly, the characters were also very well thought out. Even Marcus’s future self is shown to have a big heart, and does what’s right. Miranda and Richard’s support for her mother is also a display of strong family ties and companionship.

Aside from this book, Rebecca Stead has When You Reach Me also written First Light, and Liar and Spy. She received a Newbery Medal in 2010 for.