When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

When You Reach Me
by Rebecca Stead
Wendy Lamb Books, 2009

GENRE: Science Fiction, Historical Fiction

HONORS: Newbery Medal Winner, Massachusetts Children’s Book Award Winner, Andre Norton Award Nominee, Indian Paintbrush Book Award Nominee, 2009 New York Times Notable Book, 2009 Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Books, Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year 2009, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year 2009, Booklist Editors’ Choice 2009, Horn Book Fanfare 2009, ALA Notable Children’s Book 2010

REVIEW: In the late 70’s in New York’s Upper West Side, everything is going great for sixth grader Miranda, until the day her best friend Sal gets punched right in front of her for no reason. Miranda becomes distraught when Sal no longer wants to hang out with her, and even more so when she is asked to tutor Sal’s attacker Marcus. Things get even weirder when Miranda starts to find notes from someone who seems to know the future. Will things ever be normal again?

OPINION: I wasn’t expecting this book to have science fiction themes upon starting it and conveniently read it shortly after reading A Wrinkle in Time, which was convenient since this book refers to L’Engle’s work quite a bit. Needless to say, the correlation to something I had just recently read made the book even more unexpectedly good and exciting for me.

IDEAS: This book pairs well with A Wrinkle in Time as both are Newbery Award Winners with Science Fiction themes, and When You Reach Me directly references A Wrinkle in Time. The two would work well in the same displays or in some sort of a “Time Travel” program.