When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
(Yearling, 2010, 199 pages)
This title had been on my “to read” list for a while so I was glad I finally had the time to squeeze it in. It was different than I thought it would be, but I still enjoyed it.
The story takes place in New York City during the 70s. Miranda has just entered the 6th grade and suddenly her life undergoes some serious changes. Her best friend Sal unexpectedly gets in a fight while they are walking home from school. From then on he essentially refuses to acknowledge her. Then more weird things start happening. The hidden key to their apartment is suddenly missing. And she starts finding notes meant for her with cryptic information about how she needs to do things, like write the note-sender a letter (which is the form the book is written in), and predicting what will happen in the near future. Miranda is naturally scared by these occurrences and isn’t sure how best to handle things because she feels like has to do it all alone. . .
When You Reach Me pays homage to Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time in a way that I hadn’t anticipated when I first picked up the book. I really liked the book – it definitely made me want to pick up A Wrinkle in Time again soon. 🙂
SCC Library Reads 
This sounds good. I think I will let my granddaughter read it. I think she will enjoy it.