When You Reach Me

[W]hen all the sidewalk characters from Miranda's Manhattan world converge amid mind-blowing revelations and cunning details, teen readers will circle back to the beginning and say, 'Wow ... cool.'

[T]he 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 souls rest.

Twelve-year-old Miranda, a latchkey kid whose single mother is a law school dropout, narrates this complex novel, a work of science fiction grounded in the nitty-gritty of Manhattan life in the late 1970s. Mirandas story is set in motion by the appearance of cryptic notes that suggest that someone is watching her and that they know things about her life that have not yet happened. Shes especially freaked out by one that reads: Im coming to save your friends life, and my own. Over the course of her sixth-grade year, Miranda details three distinct plot threads: her mothers upcoming appearance on "The $20,000 Pyramid"; the sudden rupture of Mirandas lifelong friendship with neighbor Sal; and the unsettling appearance of a deranged homeless person dubbed the laughing man. Eventually and improbably, these strands converge to form a thought-provoking whole. Stead ("First Light") accomplishes this by making every detail count, including Mirandas name, her hobby of knot tying and her favorite book, Madeleine LEngles "A Wrinkle in Time". Its easy to imagine readers studying Mirandas story as many times as shes read LEngles, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises. Ages 914. "(July)" Copyright 2009 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

Sixth-grader Miranda lives in 1978 New York City with her mother, and her life compass is Madeleine LEngles "A Wrinkle in Time". When she receives a series of enigmatic notes that claim to want to save her life, she comes to believe that they are from someone who knows the future. Miranda spends considerable time observing a raving vagrant who her mother calls the laughing man and trying to find the connection between the notes and her everyday life. Discerning readers will realize the ties between Mirandas mystery and LEngles plot, but will enjoy hints of fantasy and descriptions of middle school dynamics. Steads novel is as much about character as story. Mirandas voice rings true with its faltering attempts at maturity and observation. The story builds slowly, emerging naturally from a sturdy premise. As Miranda reminisces, the time sequencing is somewhat challenging, but in an intriguing way. The setting is consistently strong. The stores and even the streetsin Mirandas neighborhood act as physical entities and impact the plot in tangible ways. This unusual, thought-provoking mystery will appeal to several types of readers."Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT" Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.