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When You Reach Me: (Newbery Medal Winner)

by Rebecca Stead

A mystery built around messages from the future

Award Winner Critically Recognized
Regular price $11.94 USD
Regular price $19.90 USD Sale price $11.94 USD
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Paperback New English

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Print BookAvailable Hardcover $17.50 USD$29.17 USD
Print BookCurrently viewing Paperback $11.94 USD$19.90 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Fiction winner

    Winner of the award for Fiction.

  • Bestseller

    New York Times bestseller

    Reported as a New York Times bestseller.

  • Book club selection

    Junior Library Guild Selection

    Selected by the Junior Library Guild.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A mystery built around messages from the future

After a rift with her best friend, sixth grader Miranda begins receiving notes that ask her to write a true story and keep the task secret. Their sender seems able to predict what will happen, including a death Miranda may be able to prevent. The mystery links everyday friendship changes with questions about time, choice, and responsibility, while the notes’ instructions give Miranda a puzzle to interpret. The description also connects the book to A Wrinkle in Time, a novel Miranda loves, placing speculative elements alongside the concerns of middle-school life.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Middle-grade readers interested in mysteries and speculative fiction
  • Readers who enjoy stories involving friendship and puzzles about the future
  • Fans of A Wrinkle in Time, which features in the book’s premise

Themes

FriendshipTime and predictionChoice and responsibilityMystery

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"Like A Wrinkle in Time (Miranda's favorite book), When You Reach Me far surpasses the usual whodunit or sci-fi adventure to become an incandescent exploration of 'life, death, and the beauty of it all.'" --The Washington Post

This Newbery Medal winner that has been called "smart and mesmerizing," (The New York Times) and "superb" (The Wall Street Journal) will appeal to readers of all types, especially those who are looking for a thought-provoking mystery with a mind-blowing twist.

Shortly after a fall-out with her best friend, sixth grader Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes, and she doesn't know what to do. The notes tell her that she must write a letter--a true story, and that she can't share her mission with anyone.

It would be easy to ignore the strange messages, except that whoever is leaving them has an uncanny ability to predict the future. If that is the case, then Miranda has a big problem--because the notes tell her that someone is going to die, and she might be too late to stop it.

Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction
A New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book
Five Starred Reviews
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A PARADE Best Kids Book of All Time
A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of the Century

"Absorbing." --People

"Readers ... are likely to find themselves chewing over the details of this superb and intricate tale long afterward." --The Wall Street Journal

"Lovely and almost impossibly clever." --The Philadelphia Inquirer

"It's easy to imagine readers studying Miranda's story as many times as she's read L'Engle's, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises." --Publishers Weekly, Starred review

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Customer reviews

M
AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

T
AlbakiReads
Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

O
AlbakiReads
Olivia

Smooth.