When You Reach Me

Though it has a bit of a simple plot, it's interesting how much this book is able to pack in so few pages, especially for a children's book. I really got a feel for the characters. Thank you so much Darla for the rec!!

4.5 stars.

I adored this book. I've been feeling a bit stuck with reading, not really finding anything to really grip me, but this was the perfect palette cleanser.

I often forget how magical children's literature can be, and this book was such a reminder of that.

i wish i'd read this book at 12 because i think it would have meant a lot to me. and it means a lot to me reading it for the first time now but definitely if i could go back in time... i'd leave myself this book to read

This book had my favorite supernatural element

My kinda book. Just terrific. Best to read knowing absolutely nothing about it.

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post to catch up–emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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I didn't realize this was an MG novel when I grabbed it—I thought it was YA—it wouldn't have made much of a difference, it just would've been good to know what I was getting into.

Miranda is in 6th Grade, has one friend (who has just decided not to be friends anymore), and is obsessed with A Wrinkle in Time. Her mom is a paralegal and is dating a lawyer in her firm. It's the late 70's and latch-key kids are becoming more common, but not as much as they will be.

As Miranda tries to find new people to connect with, she receives odd messages about needing to write a thorough and completely true account of something that's about to happen. She'll know the thing when it happens. Totally normal, right?

There's some time travel, there's some personal growth, there's some tribute to L'Engle's novel. It's a charming little work, really. Sure, I could see most of it coming from miles away, but that's because I'm a few decades older than the audience, not because Stead didn't know what she was doing.

Holloway does a fine job, too. Capturing the bouncing emotions just right. I dug it, upper MG readers probably will, too (L'Engle fans are shoo-ins).

It's probably best to start When You Reach Me knowing as little as you can. I realize voicing this opinion in a review makes little to no sense, but my point is that having a vague understanding of the premise will only enhance the reading experience of a story like this.

This was done better than so many adult works on the same topic. It had a surreal, unsettling tone. It had understated foreshadowing and interesting secondary characters. It's well-done historical fiction, science fiction, and mystery. All at once. And it's middle grade.

I also liked that some aspects of the mystery—e.g, Why did Sal stop talking to Miranda?—just came down to lack of communication. Sometimes we build things up and remember them in a certain way that we assume is the only possible explanation. But when we finally have a conversation, we realize memory is fallible, and motivations that seem obvious to us are not necessarily apparent to anyone else.

Lastly, I liked how Stead broached race and class. Despite our best efforts, children are faced with the realities of injustice at an early age. This is what makes someone like Miranda's mom so compelling. She views the world with a mixture of wariness and compassion. She shows Miranda the humanity of people presumed beyond (or undeserving of) help.

I love stories by middle grade authors who clearly think highly of their audience.

Quietly powerful and just lovely. When I was finished I sat there for awhile and took it all in. So beautiful.

Time Travel is like a ring with diamonds. You can skip to each diamond and no matter what happens when, it happens. This is a story of how a girl growing up in New York realizes there is more going on around her then she knows. You have to make some mistakes before you get it right.

The story follows a sixth grader named Miranda who gets the cold shoulder from her best friend Sal after he gets punched in the face. Afterwards a series of notes are sent to her asking her for help to save his and her best friends life.
2.5 it was an okay book it just felt flat. I couldn't sympathize or relate to the characters. The only character I cared about was Marcus. For the life of me I can't figure out what was the point of this book. Overall the writing was simplistic and easy to read but nothing I never seen before. I really liked the aspects of time travel that were mentioned in the book since it's a really interesting topic that is debated. Clearly the book a Wrinkle in Time played a big role in the book, but I never was able to get into that novel so it may have taken away some enjoyment and connection to the book. I felt like the story was dragging on even though the book is less than two hundred pages. I only really recommend this book if you enjoyed a Wrinkle in Time or if you enjoyed any of her other novels, but unfortunately this wasn't the book for me.

Really adorable, charming YA book. I stumbled on it via an Interstellar hangover helper, of all things, because it features mind-bending time travel and messages sent back in time and tesseracts and stuff. And wow, what a lovely little book.

Taking place in a gritty, humanistic New York City of 1979, the story follows 12-year-old Miranda as she navigates her usual 12-year-old things. The book is pretty genius at capturing adolescence; the sci-fi elements are very, very light-touch, almost magic(al) realist, while being central to the story. The main narrative centers around Miranda starting to receive mysterious notes from “you” - and the notes can tell the future.

Very sweet, fun. Yeah, you can probably call the mystery fairly early in the book. But the whole thing is just so damn graceful: with lots of good, subtly-done life lessons, about compassion, forgiveness, imperfection and embracing the quotidian. Very spare, and yet full of gems. Wish it had existed when I was 12!

Didn't completely enthrall me like some books have recently, but I enjoyed it. Like a friend said, if you pay attention to details, you may figure it out before the end. Realistic fiction plus a twist of sci-fi/fantasy.

This is an excellent YA/youth book! Extra credit for the main character's favorite book - A Wrinkle in Time. The element of time travel gives this novel an edge, but it's also a lovely tale of family and friendship.

This was so perfectly comfortable. I read it in one sitting, when I was post-call from a shift at work and it was the perfect book for my semi-sleep deprived brain to read while curled up on the couch.

There are some books that are terrific because they're profound, or the writing is beautiful or the plot is breathtaking. This isn't one of those books. This book is terrific because it's essentially the platonic ideal of a young adult speculative fiction novel. The writing is approachable by the young reader, tight with nothing extra. The story is both fun and underlined by a coming of age theme. None of it is new, but Stead does it so perfectly and with her own witty twist that I didn't really mind. Her depiction of the transformation from mean middle schooler into young adult with insight into human imperfections could have easily veered into moralizing, but it was so on the nose with the depiction that one can't really complain.

Pure fun.

When I listen to a book in my car (where I get most of my reading done these days) I tend to leave the story in the car and think about other things while I'm out among the people. This book had me thinking all day long and dying to get back into my car to hear what would happen next. I own a copy of the book too, and I was sorely tempted to read ahead and find out where this book would take me but I saved it for my long car rides because I knew I'd appreciate it in traffic.The story seamlessly integrates a young girl's normal personal life (she has a crush, agonizes over who her friends are, etc.) and a riveting secret mystery which is a matter of life and death. Every chapter of this book was interesting, even though I generally much prefer the mystery side of things. I recommend reading [b:A Wrinkle in Time 18131 A Wrinkle in Time (Time, #1) Madeleine L'Engle http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1305052024s/18131.jpg 948387] before you read this because it is heavily referenced and When You Reach Me contains what I would consider a spoiler to that book. Luckily, I read AWIT this spring and was very familiar with the story beforehand. Highly recommended.

The undercurrent of mystery in the book had me worried for a bit but soon I was so wrapped up in the story I just could not put it down. Interesting, vivid, funny. I would recommend.

Wow. This definitely belongs on the list of 100 best children's books.

It was pretty good. It's a YA book, so I'm not too put out that I had the whole thing figured out pretty early in. It reminded me that I've been meaning to give A Wrinkle in Time a reread.

Incredibly well-constructed. I always get really confused with time-travel plotlines, but this actually made perfect sense to me. I figured out who was doing the traveling pretty early on, but since I'm probably twice the age of the target audience, I shouldn't be too proud of that. Loved it, love all the Wrinkle in Time references, and yeah.

This would be classified as a young adult book - most of the cast of characters are in the 6th or 7th grade - but I recommend it for all age readers. All of the characters are interesting, and she builds a carefully planned and crafted story for the reader. I make it a habit to avoid reading the plot summaries on front cover flaps. I did not read this one and the plot delightfully unfolded as I read. Therefore, I will not indulge in any commentary on the plot. It's just a great little book, about 230 pages of slightly large and well-spaced type, that was a perfect Sunday read.

The author states that this book was inspired by A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle.

I've heard lots of happy buzz about this book. I liked it, but I didn't love it and I wanted to love it. Fun puzzle of a plot that fits together perfectly. Characters that intrigued me. I don't know why I didn't love it. Probably just an off day.

LOVED IT.