WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stead, Rebecca.  2009.  WHEN YOU REACH ME.  New York: Bantam/Dell; Enfield : Publishers Group UK.  ISBN 9780385737425

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Miranda and her best friend, Sal, are sixth graders who go to the same school and live in the same New York City apartment complex.  They're inseparable until the day a strange kid in an army jacket, Marcus, punches Sal for no reason, and now Sal doesn't want to be friends.  That same day, Miranda's spare apartment key gets stolen, and she starts to discover mysterious notes about the future, "I am coming to save your friend's life, and my own."  But who? How?

The notes continue as Miranda deals with her ordinary life.  She makes new friends, gets a midday job, even spends time discussing flaws in her favorite book, A WRINKLE IN TIME and the possibility of time travel with the estranged Marcus.  All of this while also training her mother to win a game show named the $20,000 Pyramid.    

Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving the notes knows things she has never revealed.  Each message gives her proof that the notes are real, and she is a part of a plan to save someone's life.  In the end, she discovers the "you" is Marcus; someone's life is saved but another is taken.  

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

WHEN YOU REACH ME takes place in New York City during the late 1970s.  The main character, Miranda, is a tween with street smarts and a genuinely good kid.   She is obsessed with A WRINKLE IN TIME , carries the book everyday, and often makes references to it.  ( Stead makes many intertextual references.  Readers can enrich their experience by reading Madeline L'Engle's novel prior to this one, but it is not necessary.)  Both novels share a space and time factor, and Miranda's character, speaking in first person, switches back and forth between the past and the present.  Mystery and suspense are kept throughout the ordinary life of the character as Miranda and the readers try to figure out the "you" she must write a letter to in order to save a life.  It is a real world story that suddenly turns science fiction as time travel comes into play.

Stead encourages the reader to believe in time travel.  Through dialogue and references, Stead creates a consistent point of view where the readers can accept that this could be really happen.  Stead brings in theories, mainly through Marcus and L'Engles novel: Marcus brings up a flaw in A WRINKLE IN TIME which Miranda argues, "My God, what does it matter:  It's a story - someone made it up!  You do realize that , don't you?"
From which Marcus responds," The story is made up.  But time travel is possible.  In theory.  I've read some articles about it."  He makes reference to Einstein's Relativity and physics, and the idea that time travel as a real possibility develops.  But the fantasy does not take over the story.  The novel revolves around the sub-plot of Miranda helping her mother prepare to be on the $20,000 Pyramid.  The book's chapters: "Things That Get Tangled," Things You Keep in a Box," Things You Count," "Things You Pretend," are categories that could be answers on the game show.  The reader can't help but look for clues that led to the naming of each chapter.


Although the story takes place in the 1970s, Tween readers will relate to Miranda's joys and pains: loss of her best friend (Sal Miranda; Miranda Sal), her attempts to make new friends, liking a boy, her friend liking the same boy, dealing with uncomfortable people on the street (Laughing man, the guys in front of the garage, the naked man, Marcus), suddenly noticing flaws when new people are about to come over for a visit.  They will also appreciate her transformation as she gains a new perspective by "peeking under the veil."  

4. AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

Andre Norton Award, 2009
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 2010
Cuffies: Children's Booksellers Choose Their Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Books of the Year, 2009
Cuffies: Children's Booksellers Choose Their Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Books of the Year, 2009
Cuffies: Children's Booksellers Choose Their Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Books of the Year, 2009
Golden Duck Award for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction Literature, 2010
Great Lakes Great Books Award, 2010-2011
Indies Choice Book Award, 2010
IRA Children's and Young Adults' Book Award, 2010
Massachusetts Children's Book Award, 2011-2012
National Parenting Publications Award, 2009
Parents' Choice Award, 2009
School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books, 2010
Waterstone's Children's Book Prize, 2011

IIene Cooper (Booklist, Jun. 1, 2009 (Vol. 105, No. 19))

The '70s New York setting is an honest reverberation of the era; 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."

Uma Krishnaswami (Children's Literature)
Charmingly eccentric and impossible to categorize, this middle grade novel pays homage to Madeleine L'Engle's A WRINKLE IN TIME while employing many of that book's elements as it crisscrosses the boundaries between reality and fantasy, time travel and mystery.

5. CONNECTIONS

* If you're interested in making a class unit out of this reading experience, check out more ideas in the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVYLhP7JOoc

* Read A WRINKLE IN TIME preceding this novel for greater effect.
  

L'Engle, Madeline.  1976.  A WRINKLE IN TIME.  New York: Dell Publishing.  ISBN 9780440998051

SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  1999.  SPEAK.  New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.  ISBN 0374371520

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Melinda Sordino has entered Merryweather High an outcast.  No one will talk to her; students are dropping her books, kneeing her back, glaring, whispering, and even her ex-best friend mouths, "I hate you," on the first day of class.  Melinda's the rat who called the cops on a popular end-of-summer party she was attending, but only she knows the reason.  She was raped by a popular senior and dials 911 for help, but everyone thinks she called to break up the party, so everyone hates her.  Afraid, ashamed, rejected, and confused, Melinda finds herself alone and barely able to speak.  Her inability to communicate leaves her withdrawn, lonely, and a hermit in a janitor's closet.  Only her art teacher, Mr. Freeman seems to recognize pain in her art.  He encourages her to express herself while her biology lab partner inspires her to find her voice.  By the end of the year, Melinda progresses.  She slowly recovers and demonstrates strength when the horrible predator returns.  The "Beast" attacks again when he finds out Melinda told his new girlfriend about the rape and attempts to violate her once again, but this time she breaks the silence.  

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Anderson's novel is an internal journey within the mind of a teenage girl who has endured a traumatic event.  Melinda's character is emotional.  She's biting her lips, cutting her wrists, skipping school, and staying quiet.  She's "a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special" and predators lurk all around.  Her character is witty, detailed, and authentic, and she reveals, without abandon, her teenage life: cliques, whacky teachers, selfish friends, busy parents, unchaperoned parties, secrets, and depression. 

The novel provides small details that predate the present: phone's "long curly cord," student's use of a "tape recorder," hospital staff with "beepers," but the description of the students, school, and family as well as Melinda's experience transcend time and still manage to give a sense of now.  Anderson's style of writing also provides a contemporary feel.  Her internal dialogue is raw and her descriptions revealing.  The chapters are paced by the marking periods of Melinda's freshman year with a report card at the end of each - Attitude, Lunch, and Clothes grades are added to the other principle subjects.  She writes in Top Ten lists, multiple choice options, and provides dialogue cues in her telling of conversations; she provides nicknames to many of her acquaintances (Hairwoman, Basketball Pole, Greek God, IT, Hero) - all of which give an authentic adolescent feel to the novel.    

SPEAK is a coming of age story readers (especially teens) will love.  Her character must admit and overcome her rape in order to move on.  "IT happened.  There is no avoiding it, no forgetting.  No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding."   The boy villain, "Andy Beast," is balanced by the smart, heroic, David Petrakis who counsels Melinda: "Don't expect to make a difference unless you speak up for yourself."  Teens who have felt like outsiders or undergone devastation will empathize with Melinda and learn from her triumph. 

4. AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award, 2000
Carolyn W. Field Award, 2000
Cuffies: Children's Booksellers Choose Their Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Books of the Year, 1999
Edgar Allan Poe Award, 2000
Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, 2002
Garden State Teen Book Award, 2002
Golden Kite Award, 2000
Heartland Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, 2001
Kentucky Bluegrass Award, 2001
Los Angeles Times Book Prize, 1999
Michael L. Printz Award, 2000
Sequoyah Book Award, 2002Society of School Librarians International Book Awards, 2000
South Carolina Young Adult Book Award, 2002
Volunteer State Book Award, 2003

Kirkus Reviews, pointer review

The plot is gripping and the characters are powerfully drawn, but it is its raw and unvarnished look at the dynamics of the high school experience that makes this a novel that will be hard for readers to forget.

Publisher's Weekly, starred review
A stunning first novel. . . . Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustain the heroine through her pain and holds readers' empathy. . . . Melinda's hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired."

5. CONNECTIONS

* Follow Daily Lesson Plan activies as you read the book
http://www.lsu.edu/faculty/jpullia/3223speakllesson.htm

*Watch the full length movie and compare details:
   http://www.yidio.com/movie/speak/22454?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Search&utm_campaign=speak-MOVIE&utm_term=speak&sf_campaign=Movies&sf_adgroup=speak-MOVIE&sf_adid=11722269611&sf_keyword=speak&sf_type=b&sf_placement=&gclid=CJ3hsM_d5LgCFUPl7AodgXcASg
  

*Read CATALYST by Laurie Halse Anderson which also takes place in the town of Merryweather:

Anderson, Laurie Halse.  2002.  CATALYST.  New York: Viking.  ISBN 9780670035663

* Create your own piece of art that evokes emotion and represents a transformation in your own life.

THE ODYSSEY by Gareth Hinds

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hinds, Gareth.  2010.  THE ODYSSEY.  Somerville: Candlewick Press.  ISBN 9780763642662

2. PLOT SUMMARY

The great hero, Odysseus has not returned to Ithaca since leaving to fight in Troy. Prince Telemachus, who hasn’t see his father in seventeen years, is visited by goddess Athena in disguise.  She assures him of his father’s soon return and urges Telemachus to stop the “shameless suitors who harass his mother and consume his wine and cattle, feasting in Odysseus’s palace.”  As Telemachus journeys to search for his father, Odysseus' long struggle to return home unfolds.

Odysseus' return home was doomed by Poseidon, the sea god, when Odysseus blinded his son, Polyphemus.  Poseidon sent a storm to shipwreck the hero, who becomes imprisoned on the island of Ogygia by the nymph Calypso.  Intervention from Mount Olympus allows the prisoner to build a raft and leave - only to be shipwrecked once again by the begrudging sea god.  Now he lands at the home of the Phaeacians who welcome him with feasts, games, and dancing.  Odysseus stuns his hosts with his identity and they are mesmerized by the recounts of his adventures with witches, cyclops, Sirens, sea monsters, and the walking dead of Hades.  They return Odysseus to Ithaca and Athena disguises him as a beggar in order to expose all enemies of the king.

Telemachus safely returns to Ithaca and joins his father and other loyal servants in purging the palace of greedy "curs."  After winning an archery competition among the suitors for Penelope's hand in marriage, Odysseus reveals himself and slaughters all suitors, maids, and servants who betrayed the family.  Those who remained loyal and honest are spared, and Odysseus' journey ends as he reunites with his wife, son, and kingdom.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Homer's epic novel, THE ODYSSEY in graphic novel form!!!

Hinds incredibly re-tells this ancient poem, originally written in dactylic hexameter, into an approachable adventurous graphic novel for young adults.  In this impressive feat, Hinds includes all of the essential events of THE ODYSSEY as well as its principal characters.  

The main character, Odysseus is a courageous, smart, strong, and cunning man who leads an army of brave men in and out of battle as they make their return to Ithaca.  There are many challenges and temptations along the way (riches, beautiful women, food and comforts); the gods provide many warnings in order to steer the men on the right path, but Odysseus and his crew are often hasty in their judgements and fall into temptation prolonging their journey home.

The most impressive asset in Hinds' interpretation is the illustration that accompanies the story.  Hinds provides adventurous, action-packed, watercolor and pencil images to tell the story of THE ODYSSEY.   In some cases, the two-page spread is only accompanied by one or two sentences of text (p. 148-149). This leaves the images to tell the story.  The panel layouts are varied throughout the book in mostly even strips, but the most climactic events have a skewed grid (diagonal or broken lines) to add dynamic manga action (p. 140, p. 212, and p. 246). The pages are filled with colorful, vibrant watercolor images, and the details provided are outstanding!  When Hinds introduces Odysseus into the story (p.50 -55) the reader can see the sadness in the prisoner's eyes and the weariness in his wrinkled face.  Later in the novel (p. 184-185), Odysseus battles against a "young buck" and spectators are impressed by the old man's build and thighs.  The face expressions are clearly evident and phenomenal.  They do not distract from but emphasize the events of the story.  The foaming waves of the sea have movement, the cave of cyclops is red from a crackling fire, the people of Hades are sunken-eyed, dreadful and ghastly.  Each of the gods (disguised or not) are traced with bright colored pencil instead of the black Hinds uses for mortals.  This graphic novel is full of unique details and perfect use of color.  

Young readers will enjoy this clear and understandable version of the classic poem themed with good vs. evil.  Hinds incorporated favored translations by Fagles, Fitzgerald, and Rieu because of their "balance of poetry and readability."  The gripping tale combines mythology and reality: gods helping a favored mortal complete an impossible journey.  Odysseus' complex character must face great quests and obstacles in a fantasy realm; readers will applaud his relentless desire to return to his family and empathize with him in the obstacles he must overcome to complete his journey.  

4. AWARDS & REVIEW EXCERPTS

YALSA Top 10 Great Graphic Novels for Teens, 2011
School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books, 2011
Best Children's Books of the Year, 2011

Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)

One of the oldest and most often retold literary classics is faithfully recreated in watercolors and pastels.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, January 2011 (Vol. 64, No. 5))
...with this graphic-novel interpretation Hinds will hook some of those holdouts who have thus far resisted THE ODYSSEY'S lure.

5. CONNECTIONS

* Use Teacher's Guide provided by Candlewick publishers to begin discussion questions for this book:
http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763642665.btg.1.pdf

*Read a section of the original poem (in English prose) to compare to the graphic novel; discuss differences:
   http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
  

*Have students chose a character from the book that best matches their personality.  "Whom do you most closely identify with and why?"