When You Reach Me

by Rebecca Stead

Summary: Miranda and Sal have been best friends since birth. As they walk down the street one day, a boy walks up to Sal and punches him in the stomach for no apparent reason. From that moment on, their friendship changes. He begins avoiding Miranda, and completely cuts her out of his life. By chance, Miranda must come face to face with Marcus (the puncher) at school one day, and the two have a very interesting conversation about Miranda's favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time. Marcus makes her think about things in a different way. Meanwhile, Miranda is finding strange, cryptic little notes that instruct her to keep the notes a secret, mention the location of her house key, and most importantly, to write a letter. What do the notes mean? Who are they from? And will her letter really help save Sal's life like the mysterious author claims?

My thoughts: Finally! This book is everything a Newbery Award winner should be. It's sweet, real, and completely believable, even though the biggest plot element is total fantasy. Somehow Stead makes you believe that the impossible can happen. I absolutely loved this book.