''When You Reach Me'': Part One

Hi, everyone!

Thanks so much for your great young adult reading suggestions. Coincidentally, I considered selecting The Book Thief as an option but I promised to read it with my daughter! (At a slower pace.) So I'm saving it—and excited to hear how terrific everyone thinks it is. And who doesn't love Harry Potter or, as you mentioned, Kristi, Judy Blume's classic Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret? (For some reason, I've always especially loved the lesser-known Blume books, like the aforementioned Deenie and Then Again, Maybe I Won't. But they're all fabulous.)

Now on to When You Reach Me. First of all, as a child of the 1970s myself, the book was wildly nostalgic for me. And not just because of the cultural references, like The $20,000 Pyramid or Bit-O-Honey candies (the kind of candies, where, if you somehow come across them in 2010, you think, Jeez, have these been sitting around for 30 years?). There's a nearly perfect '70s aura that is almost palpable when you read the book. But there are also numerous coming-of-age moments that would powerfully resonate with readers who didn't grow up in that era (and never had a metal Charlie's Angels lunch box, say—poor things).

One of the key plot points is the sudden dissolution of Miranda's best friendship with Sal. Isn't that a childhood turning point that we've all been through? Did you ever have a pal that you hung out with constantly and then, for reasons you can't quite put your finger on, just stopped talking to? The friendship just melted away. And like Miranda, maybe you started questioning yourself about the reasons. Did something about you change? Or was it the other girl (or guy)? And just as in the book, those doubts are only exacerbated if/when the new friends you make are very different from the one you lost.

The book is, in many ways, a mystery. And I love the way the author seems to be leaving clues for you, just as Miranda's mystery-note writer is leaving clues for her. The formatting of the chapter titles ("Things that...") mimic the categories used on $20,000 Pyramid, a game in which one person gives the other vague hints that lead them toward an ultimate conclusion. That's one way in which the entire book seems to be mimicking a game of Pyramid. But besides the chapter titles, what else might hold clues for us, the readers? I wonder about Miranda's name. Early in the book, she questions her mother as to the origin of her name and decides it was inspired by the concept of protecting people's rights (as in "Miranda rights"). Is that a clue to Miranda's character or to the ultimate mystery of who's leaving those notes for her? And, of course, though she doesn't bring up the title, her favorite book, the one she ends up discussing with Marcus the bully, is Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Absolutely a clue, I'm sure. I'd be curious to see which details made an impression on all of you.

—Noelle

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