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.