Blogger Graphics
When You Reach Me
By: Rebecca Steid
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Copyright: 2009
2010 Newbery Medal Winner
Genre: Fiction
Grade Level: 5th or 6th grade
Brief Synopsis: Living in an apartment in New York City a middle school girl named Miranda has a life like a lot of other girls her age. She is having trouble with her best friend, a boy who live in her apartment complex, and they begin to grow apart. One day she walks home from school and find that her front door is unlocked. After her and her mother look everywhere for stolen items and what could have happened she finds a note from a mysterious person giving her instructions on what she needs to do. For the remainder of the story Miranda brings the readers on the journey with her to discover who this anonymous writer is and what they want with her.
About the Author: Rebecca Steid grew up on the Upper West side of NYC in the 1970's, and uses this experience to help her to express Miranda's adventure in the same location and time of NYC. Miranda tells the reader her journey to and from school each day, and what is dangerous and what isn't while walking home. I'm sure Rebecca adds some things she learned in the same experience while growing up and going to school in NYC. Rebecca was also inspired by a newspaper article she read that was about "a man who had lost his memory and then, while hypnotized, told the police his wife and two daughters had been in a car accident. But when the police circulated his picture, a woman came forward and said she was his fiancée, that they had no children, and that there had been no car accident." Rebecca took this story and developed it into something interesting and new.
Theme: Coming of age story
Discovering the Unknown
Talking about the idea of Time Travel
Getting to know people by walking in their shoes
Pre-Reading Activity: Have students write in their journal responding to the following prompt: Think of a time when you and a friend had a disagreement. What was the disagreement? How long did the fight last? Could the disagreement have been resolved if you had talked to your friend about it? How?
Post Reading Activity: Make a character development chart:
Character Personality Traits Relationship with Miranda Outcome
Have students work with a partner on this activity and then report their ideas to the whole class.
Reflection: This book offers a lot to be used in the classroom. The students will be able to relate to the book because they come across problems with friends and the school experience just like the main character, Miranda, does. Even though this takes place in the 1970's, they can still put themselves in Miranda's place because she is a very likable character with an interesting story to tell. Students can go on this journey with Miranda as she discovers herself and the mysteries in the story.
This book offers a look into the future that the students could try to imagine themselves. You could have them predict what they think the future could have in it. This allows students to think outside the box because this story also think outside of the box, but makes it very believable to the reader.
The chapters in this book make reading it very easy, especially for short attention spans. Most chapters are 3-4 pages and keep the reader engaged and eager to find out what happens in the next chapter.
Links:
I remember you talking about this book during your award presentation and it sounded very interesting. I think that this would be an interesting choice for middle school level students as there is a lot of suspense as well as attention given to relationships with peers. It sounds like the Miranda is struggling with a lot of the same issues that most pre-teens are struggling with currently.
ReplyDelete