So Many Connections

There were so many things I loved about this book-this book being Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me. First, the mom is competing on the $20,000 pyramid.  My mom and I loved this show so much that we would play along to the TV land reruns.  We would mute the t.v. and then the person receiving the clues would face the other direction and guess the answers based on the clues the other person was giving.  I was much better at guessing than giving while my mom was pretty good at both. When a new version of the show came on, Pyramid hosted by Donny Osmond, we talked about entering but you always have to be paired with a celebrity partner so we couldn't actually work together.

Second, Miranda's, the main character's, favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time and there are references to it woven throughout the book.  If you are curious as to my feelings on A Wrinkle in Time read my post about it here. Spoiler alert-I love it.  The way that Stead weaves L'engles book into this text is simply brilliant.

Third, this book is full of connections.  I hesitate to say what these connections are because I am afraid of giving too much away.  I have to admit that some of the connections were easy to guess but the book was a delightful read regardless.  It's more than just a neat book that weaves in a lot of cool elements, it's the story of a girl growing up, navigating changing friendships and the tricky middle school relationships.

Miranda's copy of A Wrinkle in Time is quite well-worn but she still tries to convince others to read it.  This is what one of her friends asked, 'What's the first line?  I never judge a book by the cover,' she said, 'I judge by the first line."  I have to admit I often judge books by their cover but I reserve my final judgement for when I complete the book. How do you judge books?

Finding the connections...that's kids stuff.