Module 4: When You Reach Me

Book Summary:
This book is an interesting time travel story. In the beginning, the main character, Miranda, loses her best friend for a reason she doesn’t know. The story outlines her beginnings of new friendships, her strange family relationships, and some very odd events as she receives notes from a complete stranger who is not identified until the end. At first the notes frighten her, but eventually she realizes that they are from the future, as they predict events that have not yet happened. In the end of the story, her friend Sal (the one who has not been speaking to her) is almost hit by a car and killed, but is saved at the last moment by a homeless man from the corner. At the very end, she finally figures out the significance of the notes and some of the strange events that have been happening, as well as who wrote the notes. She and her friend manage to salvage their friendship as well, though it is not as intense as it had been in the beginning.

APA reference:
Stead, R. (2009). When you reach me. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.

My Impressions:
This book was fascinating. At first it was a bit confusing, because it was a little unclear what was happening. As the story went on, however, things began to become clear. The mystery that kept up through the story made it more interesting. The author gave just enough information as the story went on to keep the reader guessing but not too confused. It was fairly early on in the story that I realized that the mysterious notes she was receiving were from the future, but it was not until nearly the end that I knew who it was who was sending them.The little mysteries throughout the story made it very fun. I also liked the interaction between Miranda and her new friends, as well as her family. Her mother’s obsession with the game show is amusing, and I enjoyed reading about her and her friends working in the sandwich shop over their lunch hour.This book had a lot of good themes in it. One seemed to be that things are not always as they seem. Miranda didn’t realize that her friend Sal had actually stopped having much of a relationship far earlier than she had even realized, and that the act of bullying on the way home did not even have anything to do with it. Her friend Annemarie has a health problem that she did not even know about, and which is the real reason for Julia’s seeming hatred for Miranda—she is angry with Miranda because she is concerned for Annemarie and Miranda is not helping to take care of Annemarie. There is also the feeling that Miranda is jealous of Julia not only because of the friendship with Annemarie but because she has money and Miranda’s family does not.It seems also that Miranda is a bit wrapped up in herself and therefore doesn’t notice these things around her. She did not notice Sal’s distant behavior until it had already been happening for some time. She did not realize that Annemarie had a medical condition even though there were many clues on the way. She does, however, notice that Annemarie likes the same boy she does. She worries about how it may affect their friendship if he chooses one of them over the other.One thing I really enjoyed about the book was how all the little clues fit together at the end. It all tied together very nicely, with very little having to be explained by the time all of the events were over. I think that children reading this book would be kept interested all the way through by the clues that are dropped and the chain of events.

Professional Review:
Cooper, I. (2009, June 1). [Review of the book When you reach me by R. Stead]. Booklist, 105, (19/20.) Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

 If this book makes your head hurt, you’renot alone. Sixth-grader Miranda admitsthat the events she relates make her headhurt, too. Time travel will do that to you. Thestory takes place in 1979, though time frames,as readers learn, are relative. Miranda and Salhave been best friends since way before that.They both live in a tired Manhattan apartmentbuilding and walk home together from school.One day everything changes. Sal is kicked andpunched by a schoolmate and afterward barelyacknowledges Miranda. Which leaves her tomake new friends, even as she continues to reread her ratty copyof A Wrinkle in Time and tutor her mother for a chance to competeon The $20,000 Pyramid. She also ponders a puzzling, evenalarming series of events that begins with a note: “I am coming tosave your friend’s life, and my own . . . you must write me a letter.”Miranda’s first-person narrative is the letter she is sending to thefuture. Or is it the past? It’s hard to know if the key events ultimatelymake sense (head hurting!), and it seems the whys, if notthe hows, of a pivotal character’s actions are not truly explained.Yet everything else is quite wonderful. The ’70s New York settingis an honest reverberation of the era; the mental gymnasticsrequired of readers are invigorating; and the characters, childrenand adults, are honest bits of humanity no matter in what place ortime their souls rest. Just as Miranda rereads L’Engle, children willreturn to this. —Ilene Cooper

School Library Journal
Augusta, C. (2009, July 1). [Review of the book When you reach me by R. Stead]. School Library Journal 55, (7), p. 93. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

( July 01, 2009; 9780385906647 ) Gr 5-8-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.-Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Uses:
This book would be a good one to feature in a display, perhaps with other time-travel books or mysteries for teens. It is actually the kind of book that would appeal to fans of many different genres, such as science fiction, mystery and suspense, and even realistic fiction. It would work in a collection of any of these genres, as well as a simple display of teen fiction covering broad subjects. The cover art makes it a good candidate for an appealing display, as it is colorful and interesting, and the unusual subjects may draw readers to it.