When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Stead, Rebecca. When You Reach Me. Random House Publishers, 2009.
Lexile Level: 750 L
BOOK REVIEW
When You Reach Me is a text that keeps on surprising you. It is recommended for 6th-8th grade but based on its reading level (V), it could also be acceptable for 5th graders. This is a story of one girl, Miranda, living her everyday life with her mother, mom’s boyfriend, and an array of friends in a big city. The city plays an important role in this text, almost that of its own character. Miranda begins receiving mysterious notes and does not know how to react. The story is told from two time periods, the past and the present, as Miranda figures out what to do, and what these notes really mean.
When You Reach Me was completely unexpected. While reading, I felt a wide range of emotions of reactions and yet could not stop reading. It was compelling, as are all stories with a mystery, to figure out who is writing the note, why, and if Miranda will respond to it. There are subtle hints and character development throughout. Stead gave the reader only small hints of each person at times that you were not looking for them, and it was up to the reader to decide which were important and what meaning they gave to the story. This is something I appreciated from an adult and teacher perspective. So often students read and don’t look for meaning, connections, or clues unless we prompt them to. In this novel it is impossible to sit back and ‘let the story happen’.
Another aspect of the book that I enjoyed was Miranda, her family, and friends. They are all relatable and flawed in different ways, and yet each grows throughout the novel. No one is stagnant and a character study of each one would be worthwhile.
As mentioned, this story could be read by 5th-8th graders due to the many levels of meaning. The story is simple initially, with many levels of meaning to be gained. While reading I could not determine which section would play an important role in its conclusion.
Stead utilized foreshadowing throughout the book, which is innately compelling and hooks the reader right away. I think this was successful because it guided the reader as well as gave them a purpose for reading. The author also used parallel structure, returning to the idea of the notes, showing that they played just as an important role as the regular story line.
I believe that there was a strong sense of place in this text, which was brought to life by Steads’ continuous description of people’s homes and the stores/streets in the area. She makes the reader feel as if this were his/her home. Miranda is defensive about her own home while looking at others, and notices specific details, often after someone else has. This sense of place also encourages the reader to look at it from different perspectives, difficult for many readers.
Additional Ideas:
When you Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, includes fantasy aspects due to its setting in everyday life but also has Science fiction aspects as the reader questions whether or not “things are what they seem”. Although the setting is in New York City in an everyday situation, a setting of another time and place is suggested, and the ability to travel between those times is as well. This is a great opportunity to discuss time travel using websites such as http://mocomi.com/is-time-travel-possible/, and giving children the opportunity to investigate technology as well. Miranda and her classmates also work on a scale model, Miranda creating a playground. Students could learn about what a scale model is, how it is used, and create their own as a math correlation.
Other literary works could be compared for their use of time travel, one option being A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, which is important throughout this novel as the one which Miranda carries with her everywhere. This book provides connections through many characters, and through Miranda’s references we learn more about each character. Children could also read other texts such as The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Read Banks and others to compare their use of time travel. (https://timetraveltimestwo.com/2012/10/15/list-time-travel-book-series-for-kids/) Readers could compare how the characters react to time travel, and their time and place and how those affect the storyline. Another mystery that could be recommended to students is From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil. E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konisburg or Holes by Lous Sachar.
STANDARDS:
- Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
- Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b ≠ 0, and use rate language in the context of a ratio relationship
- Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations.
OUTCOMES: Students will create a scale model of a piece of playground equipment on graph paper and a clay model.
GOALS: Students will be able to explain how scale models are used in the text When You Reach Me, how they are used by architects in real life, and be able to create their own models using ratio and proportion.
OBJECTIVES: (Cognitive Domain)s
- Students will be able to cite text evidence relating to how scale models were used in When You Reach Me.
- Students will be able to write a two paragraph summary explaining why and when architects create scale models.
- Students will be able to design a scale model of a piece of playground equipment using proportion and ratio.
PROCEDURE:
- After reading the text When You Reach Me students will discuss as a class what they recall from the classmates in the text and the experience working on their Scale Models. Students will share details such as what kinds of models each student wanted to create, what materials they used, and what the purpose was and create a class web.
- Students will then have an opportunity to investigate why and when architects create scale models. Students will write a two paragraph summary of what they have learned.
- After research, the class will come together and discuss how ratio plays into a scale model, a concept they have been learning about in math. The most important part of a scale model is that it is proportional to what they will actually build. Students will brainstorm possible playground equipment that they could create.
- In groups, students will choose the playground equipment they wish to create. The team will research measurements of a standard type and then draw a 2-dimensional version of their equipment on graph paper. Once it is “approved” as the children do by Jay Stringer in the text. If there math is correct, they may then begin their scale model using modeling clay.
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