Simone Chen

Simone Chen
When you Reach Me
Rebecca Stead
Science Fiction
Holiday
P. 163

1. Right now Miranda's ex-best friend Sal has just gotten hit by a huge truck when he accidentally ran out onto the busy street. A while ago, a kid Marcus hit Sal in the stomach and face for no apparent reason when they were walking home from school, so when Sal saw Marcus running after him he naturally ran away He was looking behind him to see if Marcus was following him, so he didn't realize that he ran out onto the street. The crazy old man that sleeps next to the mailbox suddenly runs out onto the street and kicks Sal away, and the truck hits the old man. Sal was injured badly, but not dead. The old man died when he saved Sal's life. Earlier, Miranda got 3 anonymous notes that refer to things nobody should know about. She doesn't know who is leaving these notes, and she finds it very weird that they talk about things that haven't happened yet, and they do end up happening.

2. I really like this book so far because it talks a lot about A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'engle and is based off of it; a big part of the book is about time travel. The concept of time travel is usually part of a fantasy book, and I don't usually enjoy reading fantasy. I liked how the book seemed like realistic fiction but still included time travel, without making the book a fantasy book. Every little detail the author includes is there for a reason because at the end it all ties together and the whole plot makes sense. I could tell this was not an easy book to right because she had to include very specific details scattered throughout, but without giving the resolution away. In some books you can predict what the ending is going to be, but not this one.

3. A theme that I've noticed is racism. The only character I see this is in is Jimmy, the sandwich shop owner, but it is a dominant theme in the book. When his prized Fred Flinstone shaped piggy bank gets stolen, he automatically assumes Julia stole it because she is black. He calls Julia "Swiss Miss" (the instant hot chocolate company) because of her skin color. Also at the beginning when Miranda and her friends first meet Jimmy he puts on a fake-Chinese act. His behavior shows that he is racist, and the author clearly points this out.

4. My favorite character is Marcus because he doubts what people call "common sense" by talking about time travel and how it could happen. He thinks the opposite of how "normal" people think by looking at the universe and what is really holds. He says that common sense is just a name for the way we are used to thinking. He is really smart and actually really nice, even though he punched Sal at the beginning and just walked away.

5. My least favorite character is Sal because for no reason at all, the day he got punched by Marcus he slammed the door in Miranda's face and stopped being friends with her, even though they'd been best friends before that. At the end they become friends again, but he never clearly explained why he'd suddenly decided to stop being friends with her. All he'd said was that he felt they needed a break, which in my opinion is not a very good and honest reason. Even though they are friends again at the end, their friendship never was the same again.

6. I think Miranda's mom will end up winning $20,000 on the game show that she got accepted into, The $20,000 Pyramid. Miranda will end up writing the letter that the anonymous note-sender asked her to, but she will probably never send it because it is no use now that he's dead. Marcus will explain the real reason why he punched Sal that day, and Sal, Julia (who used to be Miranda's enemy, but now they're friends), and Miranda will all be friends. And it will be explained why the crazy old man stole the Fred Flinstone piggy bank from Jimmy.