When You Reach Me

Miranda’s life in late 1970s New York City seems fairly normal until she receives a mysterious message: “I have come to save your friend’s life and my own.” Who left the message and how did they get into her room? Then things begin changing. Her best friend doesn’t want to be around her, there is a very strange new boy in class, a homeless man has started hanging out on the corner and Miranda has to make new friends. Mystery fans, time-travel fans and kids who like a well-written story with an interesting plot will enjoy When You Reach Me. It is a perfect novel for both male and female readers ages 10-14.

It is difficult to give a thorough review of When You Reach Me without giving away the ending or otherwise spoiling the plot. So this review might be as mysterious as the notes that Miranda starts receiving. Or it might be as strained as Miranda’s relationship with her best friend, Sal. It could be humorous, like Miranda’s attempts to help her mother win the quiz show The $20,000 Pyramid. Or it could be as unsettling as the homeless man on Miranda’s street.

The author’s pacing allows the reader to absorb the events in Miranda’s life and experience her feelings. Miranda’s life had consisted of her relationship with her mother, her friendship with Sal, and surviving the walk to and from school. And these things are changing.

While Miranda is going through these changes, she is also drawn into a mystery with strange clues that make no sense. Readers will find themselves looking back as they read, to try to find the subtle clues and piece the mystery together. Stead has produced a book that not only is well-written and tightly plotted, but also one that respects the reader and demands to be read again.

Jean Hatfield has experience as a children’s librarian, a school librarian, and a head librarian. She has served on the selection committee for major children’s book awards and is presently responsible for the selection of public library materials for youth – children and young adults - for the public library system in the largest city in Kansas, Wichita.