My first Kindle read: the newly announced Newbery Award Winning book, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead! What a great book to start off my love affair with my new Kindle. I couldn’t stop reading it, and was very excited that this very creative and engaging book won the Newbery medal. It was well-deserved.
I didn’t know anything at all about this book before I read it, so it was terrific to simply experience it. It’s very unusual and I found myself loving the way it was written. It also incorporates a book that I know many of you love as much as I do: Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. It’s part mystery, historical fiction, science fiction, magical realism, all rolled into one great story. It makes me wish I was teaching 6th grade again, so I could read it aloud to my students, who would love it. But that would only be after I read them A Wrinkle in Time so they could fully appreciate the connections between the two books.
Now I completely understand why people were so happy last week when the Newbery Award was announced.
From the publisher:
Four mysterious letters change Miranda’s world forever.
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 whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner.
But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid 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 Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper:
I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.
I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.
The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.
A Fondness For Reading 
This was the only nominee that I have read but I did really like it! I bet kids would love hearing this book.
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I read this book last year. I really liked it. It was unusual but really compelling. Do you think you read faster on your Kindle? I sometimes think that I do. Maybe it’s knowing the percentage of the book completed.
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So read Wrinkle in Time first then on to this one!
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Kristen, it’s actually the only one of the Newbery nominees that I read, either. So I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I really liked it.
Kay, yes, I do think I read faster on my Kindle. It’s a different kind of reading, and I’m not sure I explain how or what, just different. I’m loving it!
Lisa, YES! Be sure to read Wrinkle in Time first!
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I am reading this book right now. I am liking it so far.
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I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s definitely on my radar now that it has taken home the Newbery. I’ll be looking out for it!
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I just ordered this on my Scholastic book order (along with The Lion and The Mouse which won for Caldecott). I can’t wait to read it, especially after your raving review. You know I love Wrinkle as much as you do, maybe even more. 😉 Join in the L’Engle read along, if you wish, which is being hosted by Kailana. There’s still time!
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I am ordering When You Reach Me TODAY. Yesterday my children’s writing group passed this around and we heard from Elizabeth VanSteenwyck, herself a much published author, that the book is a gem.
I’m ordering it in hardcover so that I can pass this on to my grandchildren when they’re a bit older.
Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island
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this is a really good book! i really recommend it to any big readers!
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