In honor of back to school season, I'm featuring a week of great middle grade and tween books.
Whether you're a parent, a teacher, a librarian or just young at heart, I hope you enjoy these great titles! You'll have new chances to enter each day, and one lucky winner will walk away with all these books/ARCs!
August 9: Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead
August 10: Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
August 11: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
August 13: In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz
August 16: The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin
August 17: The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver
Today's feature:
by Rebecca Stead
Published by Wendy Lamb Books/Random House
on July 14, 2009
Source: bought
My summary: It's 1978 in Manhattan, and Miranda's mom is in training to win the $20,000 Pyramid, a popular TV quiz show. Miranda has questions of her own. What happened to her relationship with her best friend Sal? Who stole the spare key to her apartment? Who is leaving her cryptic notes? This enchanting time travel book won the 2010 Newbery medal.
My take: I absolutely loved this book, which is both intricately plotted and incredibly entertaining. In the book, Miranda is reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, and contemplating the topic of time travel, which also plays a part in When You Reach Me.
Miranda is negotiating the choppy social waters of sixth grade and also trying to solve some mysteries. Her best friend Sal seems distant all of a sudden. Her spare key has disappeared, and someone is leaving her mysterious notes that seem to be able to predict the future. I enjoyed this book so much that I didn't even notice all the carefully placed clues. When I got to the end, I wanted to go back and re-read. So I did!
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After enjoying Liar and Spy, I definitely want to give this book a read. I think Stead has displayed some excellent writing and I want more!
ReplyDeleteIt's a fantastic book!!
DeleteThis sounds like a really great book. I love it when a book makes you go back and read it again instantly. Fantastic review Jen!
ReplyDeleteYes this is one of those books where all the clues are in plain sight and you can't believe you missed them!
ReplyDeleteI loved this book--but I will say that I hadn't expected the tie to Wrinkle in Time to be quite so strong--so I was kind of afraid it would be creepy. It wasn't which was refreshingly unexpected (at least for me). Great choice!
ReplyDeleteShanan
Glad you loved it too! It's one of my favorites!
DeleteThis sounds like such a cute mystery read. I love getting into a book so much that you are completely taken by surprise at the end.
ReplyDeleteThat rarely happens to me because I'm usually so busy trying to figure everything out. But this one really captivated me!
DeleteThis sounds like a fun read. I love the mysterious notes idea! And it says a lot that you went back and re-read it when you were done! ;) Great review.
ReplyDeleteYep- I just had to go back and figure out what I'd missed!
DeleteOoh I need to get going with Rebecca's books! Great reeview Jen! :)
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to read this one for a long time. It sounds great and I'm glad you loved it. I love when a book surprises you and you just want to start over from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI've heard this book is fantastic. I'm glad I read your review, because I haven't yet read A Wrinkle in Time (I own it though), and I think I'll have to read it before I read this one! Great review, Jen!
ReplyDelete