When You Reach Me on CD [An Unabridged Production] [Audio CD]

Rebecca (Author) Stead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2009

Four mysterious letters change Miranda's world forever. By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it's safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda's mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper: I am coming to save your friend's life, and my own. I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she's too late.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: LL (2009)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002N6BRZQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (199 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,611,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

've been on the lookout for magic for as long as I can remember. When I was young, I regularly tested myself to see whether my incipient magical powers had arrived. For some reason I can't now remember, the test itself was always the same: I would close my eyes and attempt to conjure a tiny swimming pool (the ultimate wish for a city kid, perhaps). I imagined that the pool would have a bright blue liner and a twisty slide about the right size for a baby gerbil. I was a strange kid-or at least one who was open to the world's possibilities.

As I got older, I performed the swimming-pool test less and less often. Meanwhile, I read more and more books. I was accepting what wasn't possible and learning at the same time what was.

Books were portals for me. I loved to read them, but hated to talk about them with anyone. The truth is that I hated to acknowledge that other people had read them, that they had walked through those same doors, met those same people, ridden those same dragons, and afterward sat down at those same tables and eaten those same snacks. It was, for me, a terrible violation of privacy.

Like so many passionate readers, I decided to try to write a book of my own-to open one of those magical doors myself. It turned out to be very hard. The door did not spring open at my touch the way I'd secretly hoped it would. The knob was greasy and the frame had swelled in the heat. But as I struggled with it, I caught a few glimpses of what was on the other side-snow, and dogs, and people flying by on ice skates. And those images kept me from giving up.

The wonderful thing about writing fiction is that you can be inspired by the real world without being limited by its facts. You are allowed to imagine and embellish (particularly when one of your main characters inhabits an invented world of ice). I decided that my story took place in Greenland, where dog sledding is part of everyday life, and suddenly I had a cast of dogs. I discovered that a glacier could conceal a freshwater lake. I read about fireflies and learned that their light is triggered by oxygen. A glaciologist told me how to scare a polar bear with a flare gun, and why he loved his bread maker. And then I made a few things up.

With help from several people, I got that first door open. Now I'm standing in front of another one. This time it's locked, and the bolt feels a little bit rusty. But if you need to find me, that's where I'll be.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

129 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic novel with a heart of fantasy, July 15, 2009

By 

Amy Tiemann "creator of www.MojoMom.com" (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: When You Reach Me (Stead, Rebecca) (Hardcover)

"When You Reach Me" is a rare gem of young adult fiction: an involving story whose subtle writing and characterization pull you in as much as the mystery that binds the story together. I liked the slice of life of 1979 New York as twelve-year old Miranda and her friends explore their neighborhood, giving us a bit of a Free-Range Kids perspective on days gone by.

Miranda gains and loses friends, and grapples with normal sixth-grade angst, but her worries take on a new twist when she discovers mysterious notes from someone who tries to convince her that he or she can see things that have not happened yet, adding fantasy and sci-fi into this realistic setting where you'd least expect it. Once the mystery has been solved, many readers will want to go back and read the story a second time to see how the pieces fit together in a new light.

In a thematic parallel, Miranda's experiences reflect her own shifting ability to see situations through other people's eyes. She also learns that giving or withholding small acts of kindness or meanness can have big consequences. What I love though is that the story is told in a way that does not feel at all preachy.

This is a great book for anyone ages 10 and up. It would be okay for younger kids, but those readers have so many choices that I would save "When You Reach Me" for age 10, because in my experience it's harder to find good books for that age. Also, the point of view of the story is a bit tricky (skillful, but unconventional), as Miranda writes to her mystery correspondent, which could be confusing for younger readers but an interesting challenge for older kids.

As an adult reader and I thoroughly enjoyed "When You Reach Me." (I am actually Miranda's "age," 11 in 1979, and I loved the part about her Mom's obsession with the $20,000 Pyramid. Brought back memories.) In the story Miranda talks a lot about her favorite book, one that has captivated readers from the 1960's to today, A Wrinkle in Time, and I would recommend reading that first!

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm a time traveler, too, January 3, 2010

By 

Susan Tunis (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: When You Reach Me (Stead, Rebecca) (Hardcover)

I have wanted to read this book ever since I heard librarian Nancy Pearl talk about it on NPR. She said the magic words: she said it was an homage to Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, one of my very favorite novels when I was a child a million years ago.

A Wrinkle in Time is also the favorite novel of 12-year-old Miranda, a sixth grader living in Manhattan in 1978. Miranda is rehearsing a story in her head. She needs to tell the story to a somewhat scary unknown person who's been leaving her hidden notes and appears to know the future. The first note says, "I am coming to save your friend's life and my own." It asks Miranda to write a letter relating the story of the events of the novel, and it asks that she deliver the letter by hand.

This is a bizarre and meaningless request when Miranda first reads it. But as the story unfolds, slowly, slowly, everything becomes clear. By the time you get to the end, you will understand everything that Miranda did.

Nancy Pearl and her librarian friends are predicting that When You Reach Me will win the Newberry Medal for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." Let's see... The writing is excellent. The character's breathe life. The plotting is superlative. And one more thing--by the time I reached the end, I was truly moved. I don't know if it was the story's poignancy or if I was just feeling nostalgic or if it was something in between, but for a few hours this 41-year-old was 12 again. And if that's not time travel, I don't know what is.

28 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Written, Imaginative, Detail-Rich, July 11, 2009

By 

L. Gildart (Somerville, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: When You Reach Me (Stead, Rebecca) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

This is as close to perfect as any recent book I've read for young readers. The prose is clean, almost elegant, but the author spares no detail, from the smells of copies back in 1979, to the way in which the bread is cut for sandwiches as Jimmy's.

The book offers subtle, non-preachy lessons in how to treat people, how to get along, and how to maintain relationships as kids grow into tweens and teens, never obtrusively and always with as much respect for the fun parts of the tale as one finds in the book that inspires and informs this one: A Wrinkle in Time.

I'm planning to buy copies of this for each of the tween girls in my life. Most of them already have the L'Engle book, but for those who don't, I'll send a copy of that as well. When You Reach Me, unlike so many books available for girls that age, will not suffer by comparison.