When I first found out I had to read When You Reach Me for my English class, I thought it was just another book. Another book about a normal teenage girl’s life that went crazy. Another book that everyone would say is great, but would actually be boring. Another book that sounded great to a teenager, but was actually very illiterate. Another book that I would be forced to read, and say I love it to my teacher, even though I hated it. But it was not just another book. Rebecca stead’s When You Reach Me, was an intriguing novel that kept me guessing the whole time.
When You Reach Me is told from the point of view of Miranda, a 12 year old girl living in New York City with her mom. Miranda’s mother is stuck in her secretary job, forced to see what she’s always wanted to be, a lawyer. Her boyfriend Richard is a lawyer too, but he faces his own problems. He wants to move in with Miranda and her mom. They would be a perfect, happy family but mom just won’t give him a key. Throughout the book Miranda struggles with friends, boys, and hiding something from her family. She has been getting notes from an anonymous person. The first frightening note said, “I am coming to save your friend’s life and my own.”

The city setting of this book was perfect. Living in the city has made Miranda more mature. Her and her best friends, Annemarie and Colin, work at Jimmy’s sandwich shop during their lunch period. However, having this job causes issues for her, when she’s not as good as her friends at making sandwiches, so she’s forced to count the rolls every day. Also, the freedom that Miranda has because she lives in the city made her who she was. Every day Miranda has to walk home to her dusty old apartment alone, since her best friend Sal mysteriously stopped talking to her. Along the way, she must pass a group of boys who hang out by a garage, and the mysterious homeless man, who sleeps under the mailbox. She is so scared of the homeless “Laughing man” that when thinking back on losing Sal she thought, “Losing Sal was like a long list of bad things, and somewhere in the top half of the list was the fact that I had to walk home alone past the crazy guy on our corner.” If one of the worst things about losing her best friend is having to be alone next to a homeless man, than she must be extremely scared of him. Her fear of the homeless Laughing Man, and the gang by the garage made her such a lovable and relatable character.

Without Miranda, this book would be boring. By the end of the first chapter, I had already fallen in love with her character. Between her witty sarcasm and innocent honesty, I just had to keep reading. Honestly, how could you stop reading a book where the main character says things like, “Crazy-shaped person.” As a thirteen year old girl, I could relate to every word she thought and said. For instance, when Miranda was walking to her house with her friend Annemarie, she thought, “I laughed. I was trying to show Annemarie how downright funny it was to have a weird homeless guy here on my corner. My very own weird homeless guy!” I can connect to how she gets nervous with her new friends, and how she doesn’t want to lose them. Furthermore, I admire how she tries to turn everything into something positive. Overall, Miranda is a very captivating and lovable character. She was a perfect choice as narrator of this story.

This book was very confusing at times, when Miranda and her friend Marcus talked about time travel. For example, in one of their conversations about time travel they say, “Then they wouldn’t have landed in the broccoli at all. But they did do it right? Yes, but-the end can’t happen before the middle! He smiled. Why can’t it? I don’t know, its common sense!” That did not sound like common sense to me. However, time travel was an important aspect to the story, with Miranda’s favorite book being A Wrinkle in Time. By favorite book, I mean obsession. For instance, when Miranda’s mother’s friend, Belle asks Miranda, “Still reading that same book?” Miranda answers, “I’m not still reading it, I’m reading it again.” Then she thought, “I’d probably read it a hundred times, which was why it looked so beat up.” As you can see, Miranda really loves her book; she has even memorized some of it. Since Miranda is the narrator of the novel, we get to hear her think of the book when she compares it to her life. Without the addition of time travel this book would not be the same.

Unfortunately, the ending kept me wanting more, but not in a good way. The surprise at the end was beautiful, but the rest of the resolution was empty. By the end of the book I still had questions that were not answered. In other words, the ending needed more. Nevertheless, when I think of When You Reach Me, the first thing that comes to my mind is not the awful ending, but the astonishing plot of the middle. As said by Greg Anderson, “Focus on the journey, not the destination.” In relation to my experience with this book, this quote means that the bad ending did not ruin my experience.
In conclusin, I recommend this book to anyone in middle school. My advice to a reader is to read When You Reach Me slowly in a group. You should take breaks in between chapters, so you can predict with the other people in your group. In the end, When You Reach Me is a five star book that I will never forget.