Book discussed: When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
Learning to read from a youth perspective (as opposed to my own) is a good lesson for me. There was a bit of a hiccup at the beginning of our meeting; a tutor group was in our space. Though there's enough physical space for both groups, my girls are exuberant, and, I'm sure, hugely distracting.
The discussion went well and filled the time nicely. This was our second session with the two new girls, and everyone seems to be getting along well. It's interesting to see how significantly the addition of two new personalities changes the dynamic of our group. I'm doing a lot more conversation-wrangling than I was before, attempting to keep things on track. The girls were excited to see each other after the holiday break, and keeping them focused on the discussion was more challenging than usual. Regardless, this is a dynamic group of very intellegent girls, and its always very interesting to hear their perspectives.
Notable:
The girls were almost uniform in their opinion of Miranda's mom as being selfish, absentee, etc. They couldn't understand why she would want to work with jailed mothers.
They liked Miranda as a character, but their favorite was Julia(!).
When I had them imagine life without a cell phone, I was met with silence. I reminded them that cell phones are relatively new, that I didn't have one even when I was in college! One girl slowly raised her hand and said gravely "It's like, when I was little, we had cell phones, and you could talk, and text...but now, there're iPhones!"
Ha!!
Discussion questions:
Miranda is your age. How does her life and experience relate to yours? Do you like her?
Miranda says that she is “named after a criminal.” Were you named after anyone?
What do you think about Miranda’s mom? How is she different than the other parents in the book?
What happens to Sal? Why does he stop hanging out with Miranda? Did his revelation at the end (about their friendship) surprise you?
What did you think about the notes Miranda gets? How would you feel if you got a note like that?
Why does Miranda get in trouble for going over to Annemarie’s house? Do you think things would have been different if she’d had a cell phone?
Why does Annemarie stop eating her special food? Why does Julia get so mad about it?
Does Julia and Marcus’ time/diamond ring analogy make sense to you? What does Marcus mean when he says “time is a construct.”
Why did Marcus hit Sal?
Why does Miranda look at her apartment differently when Annemarie comes over?
On page 93, Julia says “A person knows when someone hates her—at least I do!” Why does she think Miranda hates her, and how does this make Miranda feel? Do either of them change? Have you ever felt that way?
Miranda’s mom says that everyone “has a veil between ourselves and the rest of the world.” She says that occasionally that veil lifts, and we “see the world as it really is . . . all the beauty, and cruelty, and sadness, and love. But mostly we are happy not to.” What does she mean by this? Can you think of examples in the book of where characters have their “veils” lifted?
Were you surprised by the ending, or did you have it figured out? If you figured it out, what tipped you off?
A Wrinkle in Time factors heavily into the plot. Have you read it? If yes, did it make reading this book more fun? If not, did this book make you want to?
The first letter says that “ I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.” What does this mean?
Did you like this book? Would you recommend it? To whom?
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