When You Reach Me

Stead, Rebecca (2009). When You Reach Me. New York, NY: Wendy Lamb Books.

Plot summary: Miranda and Sal are best friends. Growing up in 1970’s New York City together, these 6^th graders know which route to take home from school, when to cross the street to avoid groups, and know to walk around the block one more time instead of entering their apartment building if they see a stranger lurking around out front. They even stick together to elude the crazy man that hangs around in front of their building since he sometimes shouts things out to them. Until that day—the day that Sal is suddenly punched in the stomach by one of the boys in front of the garage for no apparent reason. Sal stops talking to Miranda, starts avoiding her and quickly ducks away whenever he sees her. What’s going on? For as long as she can remember, it has always been Miranda and Sal—for sleepovers, homework time, and back and forth to school. Miranda is not sure what she has done wrong to make Sal not want to be her friend anymore. Miranda starts hanging around with Annemarie and Colin, not understanding why Sal won’t even look at her.

During the story, Miranda often refers to her favorite book that she is reading for perhaps the hundredth time, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. She often describes parts of the book as well as the characters. Miranda admits that she identifies with Meg, the girl in the story, who is looking for her father probably because Miranda herself doesn’t know her father.

Miranda comes home from school one day and finds their apartment door unlocked. She becomes very nervous when she and her mom realize their spare key is missing. A couple of days later, a mysterious slip of paper shows up in Miranda’s apartment—a letter that reads “I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own. . . you must write me a letter.” Miranda receives several other letters and wonders who could be sending these messages? And how does the letter writer know everything that goes on? When Richard’s shoes also go missing, Miranda really doesn’t understand what is happening and isn’t sure if she can trust the letter writer.

Combine the mysterious letters, the crazy man on the corner, and Sal’s odd behavior, and there is quite a mystery to unravel.

Genre: Mystery

Suggested age range: 10 to 14
Annotation: Fans of A Wrinkle in Time and other books in The Time Quartet Series will really enjoy this story. The stories have a connection that is intriguing.

Subjects/themes: Time travel, Friendship, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

Awards:

• 2009 Newbery Award
• 2010 IRA Children's Book Awards
• 2010 Book Sense Book of the Year
• 2010 Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Book Award (nominated)
• 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards
• 2010 Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (nominated)

Reviews:
Booklist (starred review, June 1, 2009)
School Library Journal (July 1, 2009)

Character list:

• Miranda - This twelve year old girl lives in New York City. She lives with her mom and doesn’t know her father.
• Sal - In the beginning of the story, he is Miranda’s best friend who also lives in her building. One day as they are walking home from school, a boy named Marcus punches Sal in the stomach for no reason. Sal stays away from Miranda after this incident, even though she tries many times to talk to him.
• Miranda’s mom - She is a paralegal secretary who spends most of her free time practicing for her upcoming stint on The 20,000 Pyramid. Her daughter and boyfriend take turns quizzing her on categories, such as “types of flowers,” and “things you recite.”
• Richard - He is Miranda’s mother’s boyfriend who spends a lot of time with Miranda and her mom. He regularly joins them for dinner and stays to help quiz Miranda’s mom for the game show.
• Annemarie - She and Miranda are in class together. Annemarie usually hangs out with Julia, but since their disagreement and the incident with Sal, the two girls wind up spending a lot of time together.
• Jimmy - He owns the sandwich shop near the school where Colin, Miranda and Annemarie help out during their lunch period.
• Colin - He is a boy in Miranda’s class who likes her.
• Marcus - He is the older boy that punched Sal. Miranda befriends him and tries to find out why he has a problem with Sal. They also have a long discussion about time travel and Miranda find out that he’s not such a bad kid.