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