Do you remember the 20,000 Dollar Pyramid with Dick Clark on TV? Have you ever read Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time? If you haven't some of this book will not make sense at first. However, Rebecca Stead does a very good job of explaining the game show. I am not sure if she explains Wrinkle in Time well, but then again, I know I couldn't explain that book either.
This book is the Newbery winner for 2010. Although in my opinion the story is not as original or unique as last year's winner The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, I preferred this story. It was easy to connect and understand what Miranda is going through trying to find her place in 6th grade. Loosing her best friend Sal and trying to make new friends. All this while trying to avoid the pitfalls of living in a big city: homeless mentally challenged people living on the street, large schools where it is impossible to know all the kids, or gangs hanging out in the neighborhood teasing and torturing passersby.
When You Reach Me bridges a gap between realistic fiction and science fiction, but perhaps this gives away too much of the story. This will be a quick and worthwhile read for all students in middle school.
I hope to read the other books receiving Newbery Honors this year Claudette Colvin: twice toward justice by Hoose, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Kelly, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Lin, and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Philbrick. I still haven't finished two of last year's winners, so I will keep them on my continuously growing reading list as well.
Newbery Website
No comments:
Post a Comment