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Title details for When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead - Available

When You Reach Me

by Rebecca Stead
Cynthia Holloway
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
"Like A Wrinkle in Time (Miranda's favorite book), When You Reach Me far surpasses the usual whodunit or sci-fi adventure to become an incandescent exploration of 'life, death, and the beauty of it all.'" —The Washington Post

This Newbery Medal winner that has been called "smart and mesmerizing," (The New York Times) and "superb" (The Wall Street Journal) will appeal to readers of all types, especially those who are looking for a thought-provoking mystery with a mind-blowing twist.
Shortly after a fall-out with her best friend, sixth grader Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes, and she doesn’t know what to do. The notes tell her that she must write a letter—a true story, and that she can’t share her mission with anyone.
It would be easy to ignore the strange messages, except that whoever is leaving them has an uncanny ability to predict the future. If that is the case, then Miranda has a big problem—because the notes tell her that someone is going to die, and she might be too late to stop it.
Winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Fiction
A New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book
Five Starred Reviews
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A PARADE BEST KIDS BOOK OF ALL TIME
"Absorbing." —People
"Readers ... are likely to find themselves chewing over the details of this superb and intricate tale long afterward." —The Wall Street Journal
"Lovely and almost impossibly clever." —The Philadelphia Inquirer
"It's easy to imagine readers studying Miranda's story as many times as she's read L'Engle's, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises." —Publishers Weekly, Starred review

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    July 14, 2009

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739380758
      • File size: 124782 KB
      • Duration: 04:19:57

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • ATOS Level: 4.5
    • Lexile® Measure: 750
    • Interest Level: 4-8(MG)
    • Text Difficulty: 3-4

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A strong reading by Cynthia Holloway makes listeners curious about this story's nonlinear structure, rather than being put off. Holloway portrays the confusion of sixth-grader Miranda, who is befuddled by several letters that appear in her apartment, foretelling a future that, at first, makes no sense to her--or to listeners. Holloway manages both the real and fantasy elements of the story so that we believe in the young heroine's worries about friendship and her hopes for her mother's success on a game show. Equally convincing is Holloway's presentation of Miranda's feelings and actions as she untangles the book's puzzle. By the end, we, like Miranda, believe in the time-travel that serves as the story's turning point. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 22, 2009
      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. Miranda’s 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. She’s especially freaked out by one that reads: “I’m coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.” Over the course of her sixth-grade year, Miranda details three distinct plot threads: her mother’s upcoming appearance on The $20,000 Pyramid
      ; the sudden rupture of Miranda’s 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 Miranda’s name, her hobby of knot tying and her favorite book, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time
      . It’s easy to imagine readers studying Miranda’s story as many times as she’s read L’Engle’s, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises. Ages 9–14.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:4.5
  • Lexile® Measure:750
  • Interest Level:4-8(MG)
  • Text Difficulty:3-4

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