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When You Reach Me
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From: Miriam Lang Budin <miriammeister_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:11:52 -0500
It already feels late in the discussion, but I did want to register my delight that Rebecca Stead's WHEN YOU REACH ME garnered the Newbery.
I've become judicious in passing along children's books to my husband, but this is one I didn't hesitate to hand him as soon as I'd finished it and he enjoyed it, too.
Some of the things I appreciated most about the novel are its acute sense of place and era. (It probably doesn't hurt that I lived there around then...) Stead evokes those Upper West Side blocks, the seedy deli, the neglected-by-the-landlord apartment building with telling precision. Someone else commented that she felt the "Swiss Miss" (I'm sorry, I can't remember anyone's name at the moment!) character's ethnicity had been included merely to make a point about racism, but I thought Stead was restrained in the way she revealed that the girl was African-American. It emerged from the story when it needed to and not before. I loved the intersection between very realistic aspects of big city life--"don't take out your money on the street", "have your key ready before you get to the door", "recess is cancelled today because a naked man is running up Broadway" and the possibility that the "crazy man" on the corner may be behaving in a perfectly rational way, if we only knew his backstory. I like the way Stead has
tackled some Big Questions and doesn't write down to children.
As for re-reading, I am a fan of the process, myself and have occasionally been surprised when I ask members of my book discussion groups whether they like to re-read favorite books. Very few do, citing the "so many books, so little time" excuse. I re-read WYRM before our county had a Mock Newbery discussion and felt rewarded by a greater recognition of Stead's careful structure and pacing. While you don't get the same tension and release of suspense on a second reading, you *can* sit back and enjoy the writing more. And let's not forget that the narrator of WYRM is an inveterate--one might say addicted--re-reader, herself. Perhaps we can use that as an enticement to get kids to read WYRM more than once. But I'll settle for *at least* once...
Miriam -- Miriam Lang Budin Head of Children's Services Chappaqua Library, NY
Received on Wed 27 Jan 2010 09:11:52 AM CST
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:11:52 -0500
It already feels late in the discussion, but I did want to register my delight that Rebecca Stead's WHEN YOU REACH ME garnered the Newbery.
I've become judicious in passing along children's books to my husband, but this is one I didn't hesitate to hand him as soon as I'd finished it and he enjoyed it, too.
Some of the things I appreciated most about the novel are its acute sense of place and era. (It probably doesn't hurt that I lived there around then...) Stead evokes those Upper West Side blocks, the seedy deli, the neglected-by-the-landlord apartment building with telling precision. Someone else commented that she felt the "Swiss Miss" (I'm sorry, I can't remember anyone's name at the moment!) character's ethnicity had been included merely to make a point about racism, but I thought Stead was restrained in the way she revealed that the girl was African-American. It emerged from the story when it needed to and not before. I loved the intersection between very realistic aspects of big city life--"don't take out your money on the street", "have your key ready before you get to the door", "recess is cancelled today because a naked man is running up Broadway" and the possibility that the "crazy man" on the corner may be behaving in a perfectly rational way, if we only knew his backstory. I like the way Stead has
tackled some Big Questions and doesn't write down to children.
As for re-reading, I am a fan of the process, myself and have occasionally been surprised when I ask members of my book discussion groups whether they like to re-read favorite books. Very few do, citing the "so many books, so little time" excuse. I re-read WYRM before our county had a Mock Newbery discussion and felt rewarded by a greater recognition of Stead's careful structure and pacing. While you don't get the same tension and release of suspense on a second reading, you *can* sit back and enjoy the writing more. And let's not forget that the narrator of WYRM is an inveterate--one might say addicted--re-reader, herself. Perhaps we can use that as an enticement to get kids to read WYRM more than once. But I'll settle for *at least* once...
Miriam -- Miriam Lang Budin Head of Children's Services Chappaqua Library, NY
Received on Wed 27 Jan 2010 09:11:52 AM CST
