WHEN YOU REACH ME

So hearted, I can hardly tell you. I don’t manage to keep abreast of much contemporary YA unless it achieves Harry Potter/Twilight/Hunger Games pop-culture status, but when I heard that this book by Rebecca Stead was not only the 2010 Newbery Medal winner but also an homage to A Wrinkle in Time, I knew I had to check it out, and oh, I was not disappointed. This is a straight-up good read. I’m a sucker for time travel, and the 1970s NYC setting made it feel so dearly reminiscent of the classic urban novels I loved as a kid (and still love), like Harriet the Spy and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, where the kids were smart and independent and adventurous and all-around awesome. In fact, When You Reach Me has more in common with those books than it does with L’Engle’s sweeping good-and-evil battles, although the protagonist reads Wrinkle over and over again, and there are definitely quantum-physics themes. The style is deceptively simple and straightforward, the ideas complex, and the plot excitingly twisty but never head-spinning. There are elements of sci-fi and a dark mystery, but they’re grounded in real characters and emotions. It’s poignant and thought-provoking but also fun and lovable. I really can’t say enough good things about this book, except that you should read it.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

(By L.M. Montgomery) Because this is one of my favorite childhood novels, period, I was surprised—and, I’ll admit, peeved—that several of my book group members who were reading it for the first time (!) didn’t particularly enjoy it. The main complaints seemed to be that (a) it’s long, (b) nothing much happens, and (c) Anne is annoying. I won’t address these sacrilegious claims here—oh, wait, I totally will: (a) not really, (b) many beloved books of this genre (Little House, Ramona, etc.) consist of similar linked chapter-long escapades constructed from the small dramas of everyday life, so the lack of complex overarching plot is hardly unique, plus some of us happen to like quiet, old-fashioned stories, thankyouverymuch, and (c) maybe a little, both also charming and hilarious.

But what’s more interesting to me than how anyone could possibly dislike this book is how my reading of it has changed over time: As a kid, I totally identified with Anne’s rapturously romantic, imaginative view of life—understood the importance of a bosom friend, loved Tennyson, and would definitely have named a pond The Lake of Shining Waters. When I reread it somewhere around college age, I was a bit embarrassed; I skimmed all the long nature descriptions and found Anne silly and irritating. This time around, I found my perspective has shifted; I paid much more attention to the details of the historical and geographical setting, and if I identified with any characters, it was often with the adults in the story, alternately aggravated, amused, and delighted by Anne’s adventures. While there were always parts that made me laugh before (raspberry cordial! The unfortunately Lily Maid!), now I was struck by the fact that this is first and foremost a really funny book, sharing a lot in common with the vintage comedies of manners I enjoy as an adult. I especially developed a love for Marilla I’d never felt in the past (probably aided by the fact that I rewatched the movie and saw Colleen Dewhurst’s sly, warm performance with fresh eyes). However, two things remain unchanged: I still have a crush on Gilbert and I still cry when Matthew dies. I’ll definitely be rereading the rest of the series...as soon as I finish all of L’Engle, that is.