When You Reach Me question

Stead, R. (2009). When You Reach Me. New York, New York: Wendy Lamb Books.

Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me, geared toward a middle school audience (grades 5-8), contains elements of both mystery and science fiction. It is a coming-of-age novel about twelve year old Miranda, a “latchkey” girl living in New York City. Miranda begins receiving mysterious notes from an anonymous source. In the notes, Miranda is asked to write a letter detailing future events. The notes contain information no one could possibly know - a form of “proof.” As Miranda helps her mom study for an upcoming appearance on a game show, and navigates her way through middle school friendships, she also attempts to piece together the puzzle which she believes will help her save someone from a tragic death.

The plot of When You Reach Me is incredibly engaging. As each mysterious note is discovered, the novel become more and more intriguing. Stead weaves a puzzle into the story that captures the reader’s attention and creates suspense and anticipation. Rebecca Stead does an excellent job creating well-developed characters, that are both flawed and complex. Protagonist Miranda experiences the pain of rejection as her best friend Sal begins avoiding her, but also the excitement of starting new friendships. Stead captures the typical “drama” of middle school. As Miranda befriends Annemarie, it creates drama between Miranda and Annemarie’s previous best friend Julia. The characters experience feelings of pain, jealousy, and self-consciousness, all of which work to create more realistic characterization. Another key element to Miranda is her ability to change. The novel is written in first-person through the perspective of Miranda, and as Miranda gets to know other characters more, we, too, begin to understand the complexities and motivations of each character, which in turn allows us to change our minds about them. The novel centers around the theme of friendship, particularly Miranda and Sal’s, which is why most of the characters are introduced through their journey toward friendship with Miranda.


Due to the variety of characters portrayed in When You Reach Me, this book could serve as a mirror or window to a range of students. Unlike the typically portrayed middle-class, two-parent family, Miranda lives in a run-down apartment with her mom. She refers to herself as a “latchkey child,” the “name for a kid with keys who hangs out alone after school until a grown-up gets home to make dinner” (p. 3). Right from the beginning, it is apparent that they do not have a lot of money. I think having a protagonist from a low-income home who spends time at home after school without parents would resonate with many students. Miranda’s best friend Sal is a victim of bullying. Annemarie has epilepsy, and also feels torn between being friends with Miranda or Julia. Julia is rich, goes on extravagant vacations, and seems to get whatever she wants, but does not have a very close relationship with her parents. Marcus struggles between doing the right thing or impressing his older brother. Stead has created so many complex characters with real human characteristics and flaws, that I believe a lot of students would be able to relate to at least one character in this novel in a very personal way. Like many protagonists, Miranda is not only a round character, but also a dynamic character, meaning she changes by the end of the novel. One of the way she changes is she begins to see things from other characters’ perspectives. For example, she is annoyed by Julia’s constant bragging about her new gifts and rich lifestyle, but Miranda comes to realize the loneliness Julia feels due to the strain in she and Annemarie’s relationship because she is experiencing something similar with Sal. Miranda’s ability to see herself in Julia can serve as a window for students to also look beyond first-impressions and annoying character flaws, but rather seek to understand their peers’ perspectives and find commonalities amongst themselves.

This would be a fun book to use to teach character analysis. As I stated above, there are so many realistic characters, that I think it would be interesting for students to really delve into each character’s personality traits and identify what makes them so relatable. It would also be a great novel to use when teaching the elements of mystery, and to have students try to piece together the clues, making predictions along the way. We find out that the main character in the novel, Miranda, reads A Wrinkle in Time over and over again. To ensure my students understand the different allusions to A Wrinkle in Time that occur throughout When You Reach Me, I would pair the two novels together for a Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery unit that explores the elements of each genre.

*Book Review by Jennifer Lemke, used with permission