Wednesday, November 18, 2009

"So Mom got the postcard today."

After seeing great reviews of Rebecca Stead's youth novel When You Reach Me on Lena's site and others and noticing it on many TBR lists, I was really interested in reading this book. It is the story of a twelve-year old girl, Miranda, in New York City, trying to navigate the ups and downs of the sixth grade but also a mystery much more adult.

I agree with Lena that the least said about this plot before you read the book, the better. However, I think your experience will be greatly enhanced if you have already read Madeleine L'Engle's classic A Wrinkle in Time. It is Miranda's favorite book and she references it frequently. This is a very smart middle grade book that owes much to L'Engle's example of trusting children with topics beyond the normal realm of their understanding.

Enjoying this visit to 1979,
K


Support our site and buy When You Reach Me on Amazon or find it at your local library. We borrowed our copy from the library.

3 comments:

  1. It felt so cheap for me to write a review without saying very much about the book at all but I'm glad someone second's my thought that it shouldn't be spoiled beforehand! I'm super glad you enjoyed it.

    I'm sure Z will love it once he is a little older :)

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  2. Lena - I would probably have been disappointed if I had known too much going in. As it was, the plot was fresh and interesting and I didn't catch on for a while!

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  3. I loved "A Wrinkle In Time" and this sounds interesting. Oh to be a young innocent reader again!

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