When You Reach Me By: Rebecca Stead
Conflict
The conflict is that Miranda is receiving creepy notes from a stranger about personal things that no one should know, that are hinting to her that she is going to save someone's life. Additionally, for what seemed like no reason, her best friend Sal was punched really hard in the stomach. After that incident, Sal has avoided Miranda and they haven't spoken since. As Miranda is struggling to regain her friendship with Sal, creepy notes are coming to her from out of the blue, and she doesn't know how to deal with either of them.
Theme
The theme is that some things are hard to see even when they are right in front of you. In the three creepy notes sent to Miranda from a stranger, there are obvious clues that relate to who is sending them to her, but she never realizes it until it's almost too late.
Character Traits
Miranda has many unique character traits. Some of Miranda's many character traits, are that she is brave, hopeful, and friendly. Courage- Miranda shows courage in many ways. One way she shows courage, was she decided that she should follow what the creepy notes are saying, with the life of her best friend on the line. She shows hopefulness, because she tries and tries to get her friend Sal back. She has a lot of hope that she will regain his friendship again. Miranda shows friendliness in many ways. When Miranda is at school, she tries to make friends with the people who don't have friends or are in need of a friend.
Main Characters
Two main characters in 'When You Reach Me' are Miranda and The Crazy Man. Miranda is the protagonist of this story. Miranda is a sixth grader who walks to school and back, past the corner with the man everyone calls "The Crazy Man". Everyone thinks he is crazy because he is always kicking the air and sleeps under a blue mailbox. Miranda has many strange encounters with the crazy man, including on the way to and from school.
Setting
The story takes place in New York, 1978-1979, in Miranda's apartment, her school and her local neighborhood.
New Vocabulary
A new word is "latchkey child" (Page 15) which is a child who comes home from school and is alone until the parent returns from work. The house key was attached to their backpack. Another new vocabulary word is "tenant" (Page 23) which means land or housing rented from a landlord.
Figurative Language
An example of figurative language is a simile, "It's all still there, like a movie I can watch when I want to." (Page 1)
Visuals
Some visuals I saw in my mind while reading this story were a blue mailbox, crumpled and folded letters, a big truck and the night lights of New York.
