ABOUT THE BOOK
Every day after school, best friends Sal and Miranda walk to her tired apartment. Miranda, a latch key kid, lets herself in and usually curls up with her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time. She spends her evenings practicing knot tying or quizzing her mom, who hopes to get on the $20,000 Pyramid game show.
Everything changes when Sal is beaten up by a classmate. Afterwards, he can barely look at her. Miranda realizes that she is without friends and faces the task of making new ones. One day a cryptic note arrives—followed by a series of others, all very mysterious.
The notes talk about saving her friend’s life as well as the life of the person sending the notes. Miranda is warned that she must write back. She feels like she is being watched.
And just as things get down-right scary, a deranged homeless man appears—Miranda’s mother calls him the “laughing man.” But Miranda just wants to know just one thing.
Where is she sending the letters?
about the author
Rebecca Stead grew up in New York City. Nightly her dad read to her and recorded the story on a cassette player. After her dad tucked her in and closed the door, Rebecca replayed the stories. She loved books, but she hated to share them. Each book was her private doorway to a new world.
Being a practical person, Rebecca went to law school and became a public defender. She wrote short stories on her laptop in her spare time but did not share them. One day her son accidentally knocked the laptop to the floor and all the stories she’d written since she went to school were gone.
She decided to get serious about writing, plunging into magazine articles and a novel. She writes every day now. She finds it hard at times, like opening a door with a rusty knob. It takes work and persistence.
Rebecca has two pieces of wisdom for young writers—there is always someone who will tell you that good writers don’t use parenthesis (which is nonsense), and there really are no rules about writing! Take her advice; Rebecca knows a lot about writing. She is a Newbery Medal winner!
Rebecca still lives in New York City, not far from the place she grew up listening to stories.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography : First Light
Author biography : BookBrowse
Author video interview
Book trailer: When You Reach Me
Also by Rebecca Stead:
Goodbye Stranger. Wendy Lamb Books. August 2015.
Liar & Spy. Wendy Lamb Books. 2012.
First Light. Wendy Lamb Books. 2007.
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