A city child of the nineteen-seventies studies time travel and copes with disappointment, while forging new friendships.
In When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, Miranda, age twelve, is a New York City child with a penchant for reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle – a book that makes her think about time travel and tesseracts and other amazing things that just don’t happen to ordinary girls in Manhattan.
When You Reach Me
Miranda’s best friend, a constant companion since childhood, Sal… suddenly refuses to talk to her anymore. This leaves her feeling lonely, confused and adrift in the world.
During the course of the school year she manages to make a few new friends, yet things are complicated by the strange laughing man on the corner and bullies down the street. Her mother has been accepted as a contestant for a TV game show, The $20,000 Dollar Pyramid, so in the evenings Miranda and Richard, her mother’s boyfriend, help her practice by asking questions she might have to answer on the show.
Oh my! Does it sound like there’s a lot going on in this book? There really is! The life of a city child isn’t simple.
Author Rebecca Stead wanted to write a book about life for city children in simpler times – back when children had the freedom and independence to roam city streets, yes, even in New York City! In those earlier days children walked to school and back by themselves and went pretty much wherever they wanted to go without their parents constantly chauffeuring and protecting them from possible dangers.
Rebecca Stead grew up in the city during those easy-going days, and wanted children to know what it was like way back then. It seems those days are gone forever now, with parents worrying every time their child is out of their sight.
The theme of time travel is gently woven into this novel though you’ll be wondering how, until the very end. The book is so entertaining, it won’t take long to get there. When You Reach Me is an endearing experience that will bring you close to the heart of a lonely child as she reaches outside her small world into a larger world view and promising future.
I hope you’ll get a chance to read it!
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