When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead

The winner of the 2010 Newbery Award.

I read few books without knowing a great deal of background. Knowing I want to commit time to a novel. With young adult and juvenile fiction, it is easier to go in blind. The books are shorter, the content lighter, the dialogue easier.

In this book, a lot of this true. And, a lot of this is false. A gifted young adult author refuses to cheapen the story for a younger audience. In the case of this novel, the story is still very complex. By the novel's end, there are still things not fully resolved. Is it to do with the way the young mind is so quick to explain away specific problems? To make sense of all that is confusing?

After finishing this book, I read a quick review. The reviewer believes this is a book best read at least twice. Many reviewers claim this after they have completed a book. In the case of When You Reach Me, I believe this is true. I could have read another 400 pages.

A+