It is 1979, and Miranda and her single mother live together in a rundown apartment in New York city. Recently, a homeless person has started hanging out by her apartment building, and he's perfectly crazy. He incessantly repeats the same four words: book, key, shoe, coat, and he often sleeps with his head underneath the mailbox by the building. Other things are changing as well in her life. Her best friend Sal, the boy who lives downstairs, has been distant ever since he was beat up by Marcus, a boy who lives above the garage next door, and now he doesn't want to play anymore. Her mother is in a serious relationship with Richard, and there's talk of marriage. Things at school are also different, as Miranda starts hanging out with Annemarie following the latter's fallout with Julia, and they are joined by Colin, the class clown.
Then things get weirder. Miranda finds a piece of paper in her favorite book telling her that things are going to happen to her, and she needs to be on the lookout. The letter also requests that she writes down everything that led to this moment. At first she's confused, and her mother tells her it was probably a gag or an old note left for someone else. But as more notes appear, with knowledge of future events, Miranda, whose favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time, cannot stop thinking about time traveling.
As she helps her mother prepare for her big appearance on the television show The $20,000 Pyramid, she also tries to figure what is happening and what the letters mean. Can Miranda discover in time the tragedy she is supposed to prevent?
A Newberry winner, When You Reach Me represents innocence and the growing up that invariably happens to people. Miranda is getting older, and as people change around her, so does she. Her voice is loud and clear, and she and her friends are realistically portrayed. Fans of Star Girl will appreciate the way Miranda lives in the moment but can also find nostalgia in the past, and look forward to a future she is catching glimpses of.
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