When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Bibliography
Stead, Rebecca. WHEN YOU REACH ME. New York: Yearling, 2010. ISBN-13: 978-0375850868.

Plot Summary
New York sixth-grader Miranda suddenly receives mysterious notes asking her to do things in the future. As she tries to decipher what the notes mean, she has to grapple with the falling apart of her friendship with her best friend Sal, the curious homeless man on her street corner and her mother as she grows closer to her boyfriend. Coupled with her mother’s upcoming appearance on $25,000 Pyramid, Miranda’s life takes twists she never expected.

Critical Analysis
The book is categorized as a mystery/science fiction book, but the story is so well put together it really seems like mystery is the underlying genre. It makes many mentions to Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time which Steadman said she loved growing up and relied on the premise of in this story. Because Miranda’s relationships around the happenings in her life are at the forefront of the story, the book can still be enjoyed by someone who doesn’t necessarily go to the mystery/sci-fi genre.

I think the biggest strength in the book is that Miranda is a likeable character. It is easy to care about her relationship with Sal and with her mother because you care about her. She is smart, nice and a little precocious. She genuinely wants to help the homeless man on her street and tries to be a good employee when she goes to work at the sandwich shop. Steadman greatly understands the feelings and thoughts of a twelve year old. Miranda is like most girls at her age, realizing that life has suddenly gotten hard and people leave. She is starting to see how life changes when friendships fail and parents don’t make you their day to day priority. She deals with making new friends and balancing her mother’s attention in a delicate way that actually makes sense. Once combined with the mystery that suddenly appears allowing her to be distracted from her other problems, Miranda shows she’s much stronger than she even thought.

Steadman’s writing is grown up, but completely applicable to her target audience. She doesn’t talk down to them, but lays out the story in a complex, but easy to follow way. Through this, Steadman allows the readers to travel through the story through Miranda’s eyes.

Awards and Review Excerpts
2010 Newberry Award Winner
2009 New York Times Notable Book
2009 Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Books
2009 Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year
2009 School Library Journal Book of the Year
2009 Booklist Editor’s Choice
2009 Horn Book Fanfare
2010 ALA Notable Children’s Book

"Every scene, every nuance, every word is vital both to character development and the progression of the mystery that really is going to engage readers and satisfy them.” – Katie O’Dell, Chairwoman of Newberry Award Committee

“Sixth-grader Miranda lives in 1978 New York City with her mother, and her life compass is Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. When she receives a series of enigmatic notes that claim to want to save her life, she comes to believe that they are from someone who knows the future. Miranda spends considerable time observing a raving vagrant who her mother calls the laughing man and trying to find the connection between the notes and her everyday life. 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.” – School Library Journal

Connections
The book deals with clues that reveal something in the future. Have students write letters or clues to their future self. What do they want to realize or to find out? What do they think will be important or life changing to them in a couple months or a couple years?

Miranda loses a friend, but makes others along the way. One of the friends she makes is someone she didn’t like the first time she met her. Have students write about a time in their life when they felt that way. Did they lose someone they were once close to? Did they end up friends with someone they disliked the first go round? What made them change their mind?