When You Reach Me by: Rebecca Stead

1. Bibliographic Data
Stead, Rebecca. When you reach me . New York: Random House, 2009. Print.

2. Plot Summary
When You Reach Me is a confusing story at times that all comes together in the end. Miranda and her best friend Sal are enjoying their regular teenage lives when strange things start to happen. Sal is first punched by a kid they don't know, and then begins to ignore Miranda. Miranda spends her time helping her mom prepare to be on the game show "The $20,000 Pyramid", and making new friends. Then Miranda receives a mysterious note from what seems like the future that is warning her about saving her and a friends life. Miranda is thrown in to a desperate search of trying to discover who the author of the note is before it is too late. She then meets Marcus, perhaps a man from the future. The end brings the three people together that all makes sense in the end. The book cross-references the ever popular A Wrinkle in Time that also deals with the concept of time travel. This a good books for kids who enjoy books about the future, past, time travel, and everything in between.

3. Critical AnalysisRebecca Stead does a wonderful job of conveying her own writing style through Miranda's narration. The book is not your common teenage story of normal kids, but deals with time travel and mystery. The theme of the book is futuristic and eccentric that keeps the reader wondering how all the pieces are going to come together. A great book for readers who enjoy other time travel books, like A Wrinkle in Time. A light-hearted, intriguing book for all ages.

4. Reviews and Excerpt(s)
*Andre Norton Award, 2009
*Indies Choice Book Awards, 2010
*Childrens Literature.."Charmingly eccentric and impossible to categorize, this middle grade novel pays homage to Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time while employing many of that book’s elements as it crisscrosses the boundaries between reality and fantasy, time travel and mystery."

5. Connections
*Suggest reading A Wrinkle in Time to the kids, a great read!
*Have the kids create their own short futuristic stories.
*Discuss what they thought of the story, and how they all thought it was going to play out and come together.

"When You Reach Me." Children's Literature Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. .