When You Reach Me in 100+ Books in 2025

Sep 18, 2009 Dolly rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014, scifi-fantasy, middle-grade, education-school, math, historical-fiction, other-usa, newbery-medal, lorton-jammin-book-party

Our girls' book club selected this book for their August discussion. They both read the book very quickly and said they really liked it. I found it to be a fascinating tale and a very fast read.

I love how the story wove a summary of the book A Wrinkle in Time into the plot. That book was the book selection for our girls' book club last month. I'm sure it was no accident, but I was unaware of the connection.

I also really liked how the relationships between the characters changed over the course ...more

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Mar 23, 2010 Jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was a very interesting portrayal of life during the early seventies. I really loved Bliss's character. She was sweet and because she was so naive the background of the portrait she was in was that much more vivid. There were black pages between chapters with quotes from The Andy Griffith Show, commercials of the time, and Charles Manson. They were one of the highlights of the book, in my opinion. I only wish that Myracle would have spent mor I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was a very interesting portrayal of life during the early seventies. I really loved Bliss's character. She was sweet and because she was so naive the background of the portrait she was in was that much more vivid. There were black pages between chapters with quotes from The Andy Griffith Show, commercials of the time, and Charles Manson. They were one of the highlights of the book, in my opinion. I only wish that Myracle would have spent more time on the Tate-LaBianca murder trials because they were hideous and scary and would have made for a much more horrifying read.

However, she did not. She mentioned them fleetingly throughout the novel. The novel was not scary in the least bit. I think that Bliss is being targeted as a horror novel and if that's what I was reading it for, I would have been extremely disappointed. The "horror" aspect of it was gross and freaky but not scary.

I hated the character of Sandy (the girl Bliss befriends because she has a whole bunch of moral issues) but I'm pretty sure I was supposed to. But man I really did hate her! I wanted to go through the book and shake her back to reality sometimes, which is what Bliss tried but couldn't do. As a whole I think Myracle's writing was great. I felt like I was right there with the characters. I was in love with Sarah Lynn just like the rest of the school seemed to be. I also think she developed her characters really well. I just think she should have spent more time developing the plot which was confusing sometimes and just could have been done better. The ending was rushed and anti-climatic. I was racing through the pages to see what would happen and then everything happened within the last 15 or so, which wasn't enough in my opinion.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a story about the early seventies, late sixties. I know I learned a lot reading this! I love Bliss, and her superficial friends make for a good read. Also, if you like weird, gross ghost stories, then this is for you, too! I say it's worth a checkout at the library!

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Aug 11, 2009 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, science-fiction

This book was wonderful on so many levels. The story revolves around twelve-year-old Miranda, growing up in New York City. Her mother is about to go on the $20,000 Pyramid Gameshow. Miranda begins getting a series of mysterious notes, that begin to look as though they are from someone she will know but may not yet know. This will especially appeal to Madeline L'Engle fans (as there are many references to "A Wrinkle in Time"), and also those of us who grew up in the 1970's for nostalgia's sake. T ...more

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