When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, 199 pages

When You Reach Me won the 2010 Newbery Medal and after devouring it in just two sittings, I've come to believe that those librarians on the Newbery selection committee just might have some idea what they're doing.

When You Reach Me is a time-travel book that doesn't feel like one, kind of like The Time Traveler's Wife for kids. The story follows Miranda, a sixth-grader living in New York in the late '70s, who starts finding cryptic tiny notes from an unknown visitor from the future (it sounds so much cheesier when I write it, mainly because I'm not as cool as Stead). The notes tell her that she needs to painstakingly write down everything she can remember from "when it started" so that this mysterious visitor from the future can save her friend's life. Aside from the time-travel element (which, while always present, manages to percolate in the back-story while Miranda lives her 12-year-old life) When You Reach Me seems incredibly realistic and unassuming.

I read this book probably six weeks ago and I'm still mulling over the plot, turning the elements over and over in my head to see how Stead created the story. I love it when books make me do that and I know that I'll be reading this one again.