But strange things are afoot in the midst of all this. Forced to make other friends, Miranda befriends the class yukster and a girl who has also recently broken up with her best friend too. After that, he refuses to hang out with Miranda anymore. While walking home, Miranda’s best friend Sal is punched in the stomach for no good reason. It’s the late 70s and the unthinkable has occurred. And I think I can summarize the plot without giving too much away, though. I can’t talk about it without potentially destroying the experience for somebody out there. Therein lies the problem with reviewing a book of this sort. Is it realistic or fantastical? Science fiction or religious? So I just won’t talk about the end, or go too far into the premise. This is not something I wish to do for you because the true pleasure of this book lies, at least partly, in figuring out what the heck it is. It’s sort of a lot of things and if I go too deeply into what those things are, I’m going to give away elements of the plot. They don’t even drop out of the sky every year. Because it is one of the best children’s books I have ever read and books of this sort do not drop out of the sky every day. You and I can now talk about it, and we’ll wait for the rest of the world to catch up. Have you already read and reread When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead? That is fine and dandy news. Have you already read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead? Excellent. Have you not heard of When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead? Well now you have.

So what I have to do here is convey to you just how this book is, pretty much, one of the best children’s books I have ever read. There is, quite frankly, a lot of stuff out there to like. If you’ve read any of my reviews before then you know that I like lots of stuff. I want to convey to you precisely what it is that I mean to say. I’ve been struggling over how to begin this review.