When You Reach Me

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stead, Rebecca. 2009. When You Reach Me. [Unabridged Audiobook]. Narrated by Cynthia Holloway. Cambridge, MA: Listening Library. ISBN 9780739380734  

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Twelve-year-old latch-key kid Miranda tells the story of her life, with her single mother, who is preparing for the game show, the $20,000 Pyramid, and the mystery that has unfolded around her for the last several months, paralleling her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time. After her best friend Sal is punched and their friendship suddenly dissolves, Miranda befriends Annamarie and Colin, and they all work together at Jimmy’s sandwich shop during lunchtime. When someone takes her apartment key and starts leaving her notes about saving the life of a friend, Miranda wonders who is able to know the future. The surprising ending, with the future Marcus’ sacrifice to save Sal’s life, preventing him from being run over by a truck, makes Miranda realize that time travel is indeed possible.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Rebecca Stead transports readers back to the Upper West Side of 1979 New York City, accurately recalling details of life in the City, slang, and products from the times. Miranda is a believable, likable character, an independent sixth-grader, who is saddened by the loss of her best friend, Sal. She is interested in reading and curious about time travel, a topic of conversation throughout the book. Written in first person narrative, Miranda effectively shares her inner thoughts and her insights into her friends and acquaintances in an approachable and endearing fashion. Her mother promotes compassion and fair treatment, in her working for a non-profit law firm and her admonitions to Miranda to not call the “Laughing Man” “Quackers.” The book is fantasy, science fiction, and a mystery, which slowly unfolds with the arrival of each note, which accurately predicts the future. Readers aged nine through fourteen will be drawn into the story attempting to solve the mystery and be left thinking about the potential of time travel. The book consists of short chapters, titled in the style of the categories from the $20,000 Pyramid, like “Things You Realize” and “Things that are Mysterious,” making it very readable. The chapters fit together consistently, like pieces in a puzzle until the story reaches its climax. Stead weaves the various characters together into a coherent, original and creative story that explores the power of friendship and love and the mysteries of science and growing up. 

 Cynthia Holloway brings the text to life, managing all of the various characters, plot developments, and emotion with aplomb.

When You Reach Me seems much like a young person’s version of The Time Traveller’s Wife with its mode of time travel and its sensibilities in its expression of love, friendship, and the circle of life.

4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Winner of the 2010 John Newbery Medal

American Library Association Notable Children's Books

Young Adult Library Services Association Best Books for Young Adults 

Starred review from School Library Journal: “Discerning readers will realize the ties between Miranda's mystery and L'Engle's plot, but will enjoy hints of fantasy and descriptions of middle school dynamics. Stead's novel is as much about character as story. Miranda's voice rings true with its faltering attempts at maturity and observation. The story builds slowly, emerging naturally from a sturdy premise. As Miranda reminisces, the time sequencing is somewhat challenging, but in an intriguing way. The setting is consistently strong. The stores and even the streets–in Miranda's neighborhood act as physical entities and impact the plot in tangible ways. This unusual, thought-provoking mystery will appeal to several types of readers.”  

Starred review from Kirkus Reviews: "…when all the sidewalk characters from Miranda's Manhattan world converge amid mind-blowing revelations and cunning details, teen readers will circle back to the beginning and say, 'Wow ... cool.'”  

Starred review from Booklist: “…the mental gymnastics required of readers are invigorating; and the characters, children, and adults are honest bits of humanity no matter in what place or time their souls rest.”

Starred review from The Horn Book: “Closing revelations are startling and satisfying but quietly made, their reverberations giving plenty of impetus for the reader to go back to the beginning and catch what was missed.” 

Starred review from Publisher’s Weekly: “It's easy to imagine readers studying Miranda's story as many times as she's read L'Engle's, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises.” 

5. CONNECTIONS

*Have students develop their own word lists to play a classroom version of $20,000 Pyramid.

*Have students develop a Reader’s Theater version of the book and act it out. 

*Other books about mysteries and growing up:

Fitzhugh, Louise. Harriet the Spy. ISBN 0440416795

Juster, Norton. A Phantom Tollbooth. ISBN 0394820371

Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. ISBN 1416949755

L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. ISBN 0312367546

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. ISBN 0385732554