Book Review: WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead

Sixth grader Miranda knows she's supposed to be writing a letter, but she doesn't know what's supposed to go in the letter and where she's supposed to send it.

Miranda believes it all began on the day her best friend Sal was punched in the stomach. From that point on, Sal stops hanging out with Miranda, and she starts receiving mysterious messages telling her that she has to write a letter. If she doesn't, her friend is going to die. But the notes Miranda receives are too vague, and Miranda isn't even sure she should take them seriously. After all, there are other things to worry about--Who stole the spare key to Miranda's apartment? Why is Sal acting so strange? And why does the guy who beat up Sal keep talking about time travel?

Miranda's favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time, and I'd recommend this book to anyone who like L'Engle's book about space and time travel. This book is mostly a mystery with a bit of sci-fi and even a tad of history (It takes place in the late 70s and involves a very popular game show from that time). Not sure what genre to include this in, but I'll definitely recommend it to students next year.

My only complaint is that I listened to the audio version of this book, and the woman who did the voice-over work seemed to use the same husky, I've-been-a-smoker-for-too-long voice for every adult woman in the story. In fact, I think the woman's voice were lower than the men's! Fortunately, the story kept me intrigued enough to keep listening. In fact, I was listening in the car on my way to and from work, and I was disappointed each time I got to my destination and had to turn the CD off!

BOOK REVIEW: FAITHFUL by Janet Fox

Margaret Bennet is about to turn seventeen. For a girl in 1904, that means getting ready to make her social debut so that men can start courting her. However, Maggie's life suddenly turns upside down when her mother acts strangely and then disappears. A year later, Maggie's father whisks her off to Yellowstone National Park on the pretense that he has a clue about her mother's disappearance.

Although Maggie is eager to follow any clue that might lead to finding her mother, she hates the thought of leaving her home in Rhode Island just as she and her best friend Kitty are about to plan their debut balls. In Yellowstone, Maggie discovers the truth about her mother while being caught between two men--the man her family believes she should marry and a boy unlike any she has ever known.

I bought this book on a Thursday night. I began reading it after summer school on Friday and finished it the next day. The last time I finished a book in about twenty-four hours was the day the final Harry Potter book came out. I guess that tells you something about how much I liked it. :)

Although I had a pretty good idea where this book was going and how things would end up for Maggie, I still felt compelled to keep reading it because I had to make sure my predictions were correct. Janet Fox did such a great job of describing Yellowstone National Park that I've now added it to my travel wish list. The geysers at Yellowstone mirror Maggie's tumultuous emotional state--often her feelings bubble under the service as Maggie struggles to maintain a proper ladylike decorum, but eventually (like the hot springs that she visits) she simply must let her true feelings out.

It's too bad I didn't read this book a bit sooner. I definitely would have recommended it to some of the girls in my eighth grade class last year--they loved romances--and this one places the love story in a unique setting. I'll bring the copy I bought to my classroom in case any of my summer school kids want to read it this week. Otherwise, I'll recommend it any of my students next year who show an interest in romances.

You can check out Janet Fox's website if you want to learn more about her.