Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. New York, NY: Random House, 2009.
ISBN: 99780385737425

Plot Summary:
Miranda, a sixth-grader in the late 1970s, lives with her mother in a run-down New York apartment. Mom's boyfriend, Richard, spends much of his time with them. A latch-key kid, Miranda always walks home from school particularly trying to avoid an insane old vagrant who hangs out near her building. Because of his crazy cackling, she and Mom refer to him as the laughing man.When Miranda's best buddy, Sal, gets punched by another boy for no apparent reason, Sal abruptly ends his friendship with Miranda. Then Miranda starts getting strange notes. The anonymous writer says he's coming to save her friend's life and his own, and he needs Miranda to write a letter for him. Miranda notices that the crazy homeless man always utters the words "book bag pocket shoe". The phrase refers to the order in which Miranda receives her notes—her library book, a bread bag, her coat pocket and a shoe. The first note arrives and the mystery begins....

I am coming to save your friends life and my own.  
I ask two favors. First you must write me a letter.

The next notes instruct Miranda to write a letter describing the future events. The notes, whose writer claims to be coming to Miranda's time to save a life, offer three signs of the truth of the messages. As the plot develops, the proofs come true, and Miranda is intrigued. The notes frighten Miranda, partly because they correctly predict future events, such as the date her mom appears as a contestant on "$20,000 Pyramid."

Critical Analysis:

When You Reach Me is classified as fantasy but besides the sci-fi traits, it has mystery and historical fiction attributes. The main characters are Miranda and the laughing man. Miranda is the narrator of this story.  Miranda is a great main character because she is smart, inquisitive, watchful, loyal. She’s fearful of the crazy man (laughing man) on the corner, the one who seems to spend most of his time sleeping beneath a mailbox. The characters are very believable and the reader can relate to each one except the laughing man.  The laughing man is suppose to be a bit more unknown to add to the suspense. The basic plot is a mystery in a fantasy.  It revolves around the mysterious notes, if Miranda will write the letter and of course who is writing the notes.  The setting is New York City in 1970 and Miranda with her friends walk the streets in day to day life. The book approaches friendship, growing up, social justice, racism and stereotyping and is a great book for all children, boys and girls. A Wrinkle in Time is the center for the book because it is Miranda's favorite book which she reads and re-reads till the book is worn.  This shows Miranda's fascination with time travel which gives some insight that maybe our mysterious note writer is from the future.  Rebecca Stead writes in a way that pulls in the reader into the story.  Every word she writes has a purpose for the story. Stead fills the pages with clues to help the reader piece the puzzle together which all is revealed a the end of the book.  

This is a great book and a very good read for any age. Kids 12 up with love this book but adults will enjoy it also.  When You Reach Me is not the typical silly time travel book.  It has a great plot, strong characters, life lessons and it is just plain entertaining.  

Connections:

Other books by Rebecca Stead:

     Liar and Spy

     First Light

Read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

https://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/teachers_guides/9780375850868.pdf

http://www.rebeccasteadbooks.com/books.html

Reviews/Awards:

• Winner of the 2010 John Newbery Medal
• Nominated for the Andre Norton Award, 2009
• The New York Times Notable Book, 2009
• Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Books, 2009
• 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
• Parents' Choice Gold Award Winner, 2009
• ALA Notable Children's Book, 2010
• Nominated for the Indian Paintbrush Book Award, 2011
• Winner of the Massachusetts Children's Book Award, 2012
• A Book Sense Children's Summer Pick
• A Junior Library Guild Selection
• A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year - Outstanding Merit

★“Stead’s novel is as much about character as story. . . . [An] unusual, 

thought-provoking mystery.”—School Library Journal 

★“Closing revelations are startling and satisfying but quietly made, their 

reverberations giving plenty of impetus for the reader to go back to the 

beginning and catch what was missed.”—The Horn Book

★“Quite wonderful . . . invigorating . . . the characters, children and adults, 

are honest bits of humanity.”—Booklist

★“Teens will circle back to the beginning and say, ‘Wow . . . cool.’”

—Kirkus Reviews

★“It’s easy to imagine readers studying Miranda’s story as many times 

as she’s read A Wrinkle in Time, and spending hours pondering the 

provocative questions it raises.”—Publishers Weekly