When You Reach Me

This is an okay book written by Rebecca Stead. By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it's safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know who to avoid - like the crazy guy on the corner. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a kid on the street for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda's mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then a mysterious note arrives, scrawled on a tiny slip of paper. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows things that no one in the present could know.

The author wanted to show that kids do not have as much independence as they did 30 years ago. She based on the story on an article she read about a man with amnesia. The book won a Newbery Medal in 2010. The main character Miranda is often seen reading Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time because it was Stead's favorite book.