47. When You Reach Me

Through a close reading of When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead and relating it to Lois Lowry’s The Giver, fifth grade students compare the responsibilities people have to each other and their larger society.

When You Reach Me is a mainstay of fifth grade literature. Combining science fiction, mystery, and a staggering ending, it has become known as one of the best books of fifth grade. Rebecca Stead, a parent of a Dalton alum, weaves together a tale of Miranda, a student growing up on the west side of New York, who receives strange notes, experiences loss, and grows in more ways than one. Through it all, the student learns that it’s important to “Never judge a book by its cover.”

Throughout many fifth grade years, Stead has visited the Dalton School, speaking with hundreds of students. Using her own prior experiences, she is able to help students recognize that stories are most powerful when the author has some connection to the protagonist’s journey. In her presentation, she shared photos of her youth, international covers of her book, and funny anecdotes of her childhood.

Connecting the protagonist Miranda’s journey to understanding herself and those around her, to Jonas, protagonist of The Giver by Lois Lowry, opened students’ minds to people’s responsibility to each other and their overall society. Though the books take place in drastically different times and the characters seem at first glance to have completely different experiences, there’s something to be said for the watchful eye that believes it is protecting those under its purview without also calling into question the receivers’ feelings towards being surveilled.
—Ayesha Long,  Former Fifth Grade House Advisor and K-12 Diversity Coordinator