When You Reach Me

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stead, Rebecca. WHEN YOU REACH ME. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2009.

PLOT SUMMARY
WHEN YOU REACH ME is a story about a twelve year old girl living in the city, with her mother during the 1980’s. The book explains the life of this young girl, Miranda, from home to school and back again. The story deals with friendships, crushes, enemies, and family. While Miranda is trying to figure life out she gets a series of notes from an unidentified author. The notes are like clues into the future. On top of struggling with old friendships, creating new friendships, and helping her mother with her dreams, Miranda now has to worry about these mysterious letters.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Miranda is the main character in this book. She is a twelve year old girl growing up with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. They live in an apartment in New York. Miranda is now old enough to get around the city without an adult. Miranda begins the story with one best friend. As he begins to neglect her she has to try and find new friends. Miranda is relatable to many children. She is independent yet still needs her mother and friends. She goes through tough times and relationships as most do during that stage in life.

The plot of the story was simple at times and complicated at others. I found myself getting frustrated when the talk about time travel came about. Not only do I not believe in time travel, I had to read the words several times to try and understand what they were saying and still never really got it. For the most part this is just a story about Miranda and her journey through adolescence. If the time travel had been left completely out it would have been much more relatable. The book is set in New York during the 1980’s. This is obvious because of the television shows discussed in the book.

The theme of the book is a bit harder to find. I would say that self awareness and individualism would be the key themes. Miranda spends most of the book figuring out who she is. Does she need her best friend? Does she need her mother? Does she believe what people tell her or will she determine what is real on her own? Although these questions may be different for Miranda because of her circumstances, most adolescence go through the same questions in their own life. Each person must figure these things out on their own.

Miranda is the narrator of the story. She uses dialect that is typical for a young girl. It is easy to understand and easy to relate to. The chapters are short which is perfect for readers who have not yet mastered novels.

Gender and culture are key aspects of this book. Culture comes into play when the African American girl in class is accused of stealing from the deli. She is told to never come back and her friends as well as her enemies stand up for her. The issue of gender happens between Miranda and her best friend Sal who is a boy. Although they are best friends, they have to take a “break” because Sal needed to spend some time with the other boys. It takes Miranda some time to understand that concept.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
This unusual, thought-provoking mystery will appeal to several types of readers.-SLJ

The mental gymnastics required of readers are invigorating; and the characters, children, and adults are honest bits of humanity no matter in what place or time their soul’s rest.-BOOKLIST

CONNECTIONS
This book could lead to a great class discussion. While the topic of the discussion could be many things I would focus on time travel. Have the students explain why or why not they believe that time travel could happen. This could lead to a great debate which often gets students involved.

Students should write a narrative about “When I traveled through time…” This is a great example of a narrative that might be used on the TAKS.

The topic of racism is touched on in this book. Depending on the age group being taught, that might be a lesson in itself.