TWU LS 5603 - Fiction, Fantasy & YA - WHEN YOU REACH ME

Stead, Rebecca. 2009. WHEN YOU REACH ME. New York: Wendy Lamb Books. ISBN 0385737425

PLOT SUMMARY
A daughter, Miranda, is helping her mom prepare for a contestant spot on the $20,000 pyramid, while watching a friendship disappear, and watching a stranger appear all while receiving mystery notes. The link to the notes and her friends are revealed in the last part of the book.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This late 1970s novel, a sixth grade girl, Miranda,  confronts the end of her friendship with longtime buddy Sal, new friendships with school friends Annemarie and Julia, a romantic conflict with Colin, a father-like relationship with Jimmy -the owner of a sandwich shop, and a seemingly troubled bully student, Marcus.

Miranda is typical of a sixth grade girl in her relationships with both Annemarie and Julia, as she encounters jealousy, compassion and empathy for the other girls. Her relationship with Sal is more complicated stemming from their childhood friendship and the appearance that Sal has been bullied by Marcus. 

The story line of the mother auditioning for the $20,000 pyramid along with the New York middle school teachers and students are realistic in their characterizations. The city setting allows the sandwich shop, garages, and the tenant housing to serve as a venue for the secondary characters.  The main characters are fully developed through the circumstances and so the reader connects with each character and becomes bothered by the “laughing man’s” recurring appearances throughout the book.

The general theme is the timeless “good overcomes evil” and that there is an angel from the future watching over her and her friends. The mother character who has worked so hard as a legal assistant works hard and gets to opportunity to better her life and career.

This book is laid out in very short chapters. A 1^st person narrative from Miranda and the dialogue is very much in the style and the age of the characters. There is an alternating format of chapters about the mom storyline and then Miranda and her friend’s story line. Most of the chapters have the word “things” in the title (a play on the 20,000 pyramid clues). “things you keep in a box,” “things that go missing,” and “things you hide” that have a double meaning in the preparation for the game show and the events that are unfolding in the lives of Miranda and her friends.

There is an even balance of male and female characters between Miranda, her mom, Annemarie, and Julia versus the male characters of Sal, Colin, Marcus and the “laughing man.” The story reflects the culture of the 1970s where some moms had both careers and families and there were single families sharing responsibilities of raising a community of children.

Stead has established an amazing point in this book where you stop and begin flashing back to the prior events and want to re-read the beginning of the book. This book forces the reader to re-evaluate the relationships and the things that appeared to be problems in relationships like the  Marcus and Sal relationship or the “laughing man” who appears to be homeless and watching Miranda and her house.

This is a great book about relationships, unexpected events, and surprises.

 “Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean. It’s like how turning on a light makes you realize how dark the room had gotten.” – spoken by Miranda.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Book Links ALA 01/01/10

Newbery Medal/Honor 01/18/10

Booklist starred 06/15/09

Publishers Weekly starred 06/22/09

Horn Book starred 07/01/09

School Library Journal starred 07/01/09

Kirkus Review starred 06/01/09

Wilson’s Junior High School 01/09/10

Kirkus Review starred (June 1, 2009) - Some might guess at the baffling, heart-pounding conclusion, but 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."

School Library Journal (July 1, 2009) - This unusual, thought-provoking mystery will appeal to several types of readers.

CONNECTIONS

Sleator, William. 2001. MARCO’S MILLIONS. New York: Dutton Children's Books ISBN 0525464417

·         Partner this book as another time travel book

Shusterman, Neal. 1999. DOWNSIDERS. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0689803753

·         Partner this book as another Fiction book set in New York City

L'Engle, Madeleine. 1962. A WRINKLE IN TIME. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

ISBN 0374386137

·         Partner this book because it is mentioned in the book and is read by the main character