Compelling Mystery, Friendship, and Redemption – When You Reach Me – 2010 Newbery Medal Winner
Website design By BotEap.comMiranda–the protagonist of the 2010 Newbery Medal winner when you reach me –she’s a twelve-year-old latchkey girl living with her single mother in New York City in the 1970s. She’s smart, funny, and only reads one book: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Her mother, an aspiring lawyer with a keen sense of justice, was forced to drop out of law school when she had Miranda. She now unhappily works as a paralegal and dreams of winning The $20,000 Pyramid game show so she can quit her job.
Website design By BotEap.comMiranda has lost her best friend, Sal, who lives in her apartment building. One day, while the two were walking home from school, a neighborhood boy named Marcus punched Sal, and from that day on Sal seemed to walk away: he no longer waits to walk with Miranda, and refuses to even look at her. her when they collide with each other. In the confusing void left by Sal, Miranda strikes up new friendships with Annemarie, recently dumped by her sometimes snotty best friend Julia, and Colin, “this short kid who seemed to end up in my class every year” (p. 54). . The three of them get lunchtime jobs together at the local sandwich shop, Jimmy’s, bonding over smelly pickle cheese sandwiches.
Website design By BotEap.comOne day, Miranda finds her apartment mysteriously unlocked after school and the spare key is missing from its hiding place, baffling both her and her mother. A short time later, Ella Miranda receives the following mysterious note:
Website design By BotEap.com“This is hard. Harder than I expected, even with your help. But I’ve been practicing and my preparations are going well. I’m here to save your friend’s life and mine. I ask two favors of you. First, you must write a letter Second, please remember to mention the location of your house key. The journey is difficult. I will not be myself when I reach you” (p. 60).
Website design By BotEap.comMiranda continues to receive notes like this, four in all, each as haunting and enigmatic as the first. Her notes leave him with a mystery to unravel: Who sends the notes? What kind of trip does the shipper plan to take? Which of Miranda’s friends will be saved? And from what? And what about that crazy bum on the corner who sleeps with his head under the mailbox? These questions, along with the breakup between Miranda and Sal, drive the story.
Website design By BotEap.comMany things make this book attractive. The first, of course, is the mystery: the reader is just as determined to solve it as Miranda is. Stead adds depth to the mystery beyond the mere content of the notes by linking the book to the science fiction theme of time travel. The most obvious way this theme appears is in the conversations Miranda has with certain friends, in particular Marcus, a math and physics prodigy who believes that time travel is theoretically possible. However, time travel is also woven into the book through Miranda’s attachment to L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, a book in which the protagonist, Meg, travels through time to save the members. of his family. (By the way, Stead says in her acknowledgments that L’Engle’s books captivated her as a child.)
Website design By BotEap.comHowever, despite the fascinating mystery, when you reach me it is more deeply about friendship. Specifically, the novel addresses the question of how to hold on to old friendships without suffocating them, insightfully revealing the stabilizing effect that new friendships can have in the effort to preserve or reclaim old ones. Although I refrain from giving details here so as not to spoil the plot, the novel’s narrative reflections on friendship are extremely thoughtful and resonant. This theme of friendship will speak deeply to tweens navigating the often tumultuous social world of high school.
Website design By BotEap.comThe book is also very clever. For example, as I already pointed out, Miranda’s mother wants to win at The $20,000 Pyramid. The final part of the game show is called the “Winner’s Circle”, in which a set of objects is described to the contestant and they are asked to say which category the objects belong to. For example, if the objects were “a tube of toothpaste, someone’s hand,” the contestant would say “things you squeeze” (p. 39). Stead cleverly titles most of the book’s chapters with categories like that, like “Things You Keep in a Box,” “Things You Lose,” and “Things You Hide.” And sure enough, Stead puts objects in each chapter that fit into these titular categories. After a while, finding the “stuffs that smell” or the “stuffs that kick” became a fun bonus game in the chapter she was reading!
Website design By BotEap.comIn addition to these factors that give when you reach me subjective appeal, the book is valuable for the development of young readers. In particular, the book communicates positive messages of hope on some of life’s most important issues. In fact, it seems to be part of Stead’s explicit purpose to lift, for a moment, the “veil” that usually hides from us “the world as it really is”, in all its “beauty, cruelty, sadness and love”. (p. 71). In other words, part of Stead’s goal is to inspire truthful yet hopeful reflection on some of the things that matter most in life.
Website design By BotEap.comStead’s elevation of the value of friendship is perhaps the most important and striking example of what makes this book good for tweens. Her focus on the profound importance of friendship is a welcome counterweight to the superficial and catty social culture typical of high school.
Website design By BotEap.comThe possibility of redemption is another valuable developmental theme that Stead explores in the novel. For example, the book is based on second chances for Miranda’s mother, both vocationally and relationally. Similarly, Miranda has a redemptive conversion in the way she views and treats her classmates Julia and Alice Evans. Whereas previously she saw Julia simply as a competitor for Annemarie’s affections, and Alice as the weird girl who waited too long to go to the bathroom, towards the end of the book, Miranda’s veil is suddenly lifted, revealing Julia as the faithful one. Annemarie’s friend, and Alice as an insecure stranger. This idea gives Miranda new compassion and kindness towards both of them.
Website design By BotEap.comIn sum, when you reach me is a fantastic book for children ages nine and up. Not only does it involve interesting themes packed into a compelling mystery, but it elevates friendship and redemption and thus fosters the right kind of values in tweens.