When You Reach Me

Written by Rebecca Stead

Book #3 in the Newbery Medal Winner series

Mysterious notes predict a death. Can Miranda unravel the truth in time?

5.0/7 Bookroo expert·4.1/5 Goodreads · 118,372 ratings

199 pages· 39,395 words· Est. 4.5 hour read

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Bookroo's summary

Sixth grader Miranda receives cryptic notes that predict the future, warning her of an impending death. As she navigates friendship fallout and the mystery of these messages, Miranda must uncover the truth before it's too late. With each note, the stakes rise, leaving her to question reality and her role in preventing a tragedy. Can she solve the puzzle and change fate, or is she already too late? Dive into a world where time and destiny intertwine, challenging Miranda to confront the unknown and her own fears.

"'Einstein says common sense is just habit of thought. It's how we're used to thinking about things, but a lot of the time it just gets in the way.' 'In the way of what?' 'In the way of what's true.'"

— from the book

From the publisher

“Like A Wrinkle in Time (Miranda’s favorite book), When You Reach Me far surpasses the usual whodunit or sci-fi adventure to become an incandescent exploration of ‘life, death, and the beauty of it all.’” —The Washington Post

This Newbery Medal winner that has been called “smart and mesmerizing,” (The New York Times) and “superb” (The Wall Street Journal) will appeal to readers of all types, especially those who are looking for a thought-provoking mystery with a mind-blowing twist.

Shortly after a fall-out with her best friend, sixth grader Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes, and she doesn’t know what to do. The notes tell her that she must write a letter—a true story, and that she can’t share her mission with anyone.

It would be easy to ignore the strange messages, except that whoever is leaving them has an uncanny ability to predict the future. If that is the case, then Miranda has a big problem—because the notes tell her that someone is going to die, and she might be too late to stop it.

Winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Fiction

A New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book

Five Starred Reviews

A Junior Library Guild Selection

“Absorbing.” —People

“Readers … are likely to find themselves chewing over the details of this superb and intricate tale long afterward.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Lovely and almost impossibly clever.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“It’s easy to imagine readers studying Miranda’s story as many times as she’s read L’Engle’s, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred review