Book Review: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

When You Reach Meis an interesting tale of how a person's actions can impact those around them. Miranda and Sal have been best friends forever, until one day when Sal is punched for no reason and begins to shut Miranda out of his life. Now she must try to understand the clues someone is leaving her, to figure out why Sal avoids her and how that someone knows so much about her.

Things I Liked:
I loved the time travel element that is slowly revealed. Also, I felt like the emotions of Miranda, her dealing with friendship and school and family, all felt very real. I also really enjoyed the overall story arc - the plot. The humor was also very welcome:

"The hose is all cracked-looking and about a hundred years old, and Mom always says that if there's an actual fire it will be of no use whatsoever and we'll have to jump out the window into the neighbor's garden. It's a good thing we live on the second floor." p.11

"So you're saying this diamond chip is just sitting there minding its own business, and then suddenly a bunch of kids land in the diamond chip's broccoli patch..." p.104

Things I Didn't Like:
It seemed a little too vague, like there was not enough explained, or not enough details included. I was also just a bit disappointed after all the hype that I didn't think it was that fabulous.

Read-alikes:
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt, for humor and middle school feel
A Wrinkle in Timeby Madeleine L'Engle - because it is such an integral part of the story

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->
an intense scene for very young kids

Overall rating: ****

What do you think - is time travel possible? Would you want to travel in time if it were?

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