When You Reach Me: 11/24/15

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is one of those books that needed to wait for the perfect time for me to read it. I impulse bought it at my son's Scholastic book fair when he was in first or second grade. He's now going into eighth.

And that's a big part of When You Reach Me — time. There's Miranda's mother who is trying to beat the clock on The $100,000 Pyramid. There is Miranda's own fascination with A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. And there are the letters that come and seem to know things from Miranda's future.

It's also about friendship and trust. After Miranda's best friend, Sal, is punched by the neighborhood bully, he withdraws from their friendship. Miranda left on her own is forced to make new friends. Much of this book is about that adjustment and the things she does with them.

How it all fits together is the fun bit of the story. Readers familiar with A Wrinkle in Time might jump to the correct conclusions first but knowing that book isn't a prerequisite for enjoying When You Reach Me

Five stars

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