When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me is a book that has called out to me many times from the library shelves.  I find myself filling my bags to the brim every time I go to the library, only to find that I can't really read that many books before they are due.  So this one made it back to the shelves before I could read it, only to call out to me again.  It won the Newbery for 2009 so it is by no means a new find, but I listened to it and loved it.

The story revolves around Miranda, a sixth grade girl living in New York City in the late 1970s.  Her mother is a quirky single-mother secretary who is studying up for her appearance on the television show, The $20,000 Pyramid show.  Miranda is best friends with Sal but when a kid walks up the street and punches Sal in the stomach, for no good reason, Sal stops talking to Miranda.  Miranda makes new friends and spends her time working in a sandwich shop with them or having sleepovers and reading her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time.  Mystery enters the story when Miranda receives a note, foretelling the future, and requesting her assistance.

The story seems to be a mix of a multitude of stories and genres all put together into one.  I love the characters.  Miranda and her friends ring true to me of the dilemmas and life of a sixth grader.  Miranda's mother is one of my favorite characters - quirky yet determined and not one to be pushed around.  Every character reads real and seems to be someone you would find as your neighbor, at the corner drug store or in your sixth grade classroom.

This story is so well written and plotted out that the reader will turn page after page in anticipation of finding out how the mystery unravels only to wish they could start over at page one again once the book is finished.