Rebecca Stead
Totally enjoyed getting into the books of Rebecca Stead this
summer. I started off with Goodbye Stranger and quickly continued with When You
Reach Me and Liar and Spy. All were delightful and crammed with credible
characters going through real and relatable life issues.
Stead has the gift of creating the perfect story. She
received the Newbery Medal for When You Reach Me in 2010; Liar and Spy won the
Guardian Children’s Fiction prize for 2013; (the first American to take out the
award) and
Goodbye Stranger has appeared on all the Best Books of 2015 lists. Stead’s stories are all excellent for middle
schoolers and up. The richness of plot lines and themes covered in the books
make them thoroughly enjoyable for any age.In Goodbye Stranger we meet Bridget (Bridge) Barsamian who is remembered by all in her neighbourhood as ‘the girl from the car accident’. Bridge endured a long recovery in hospital after the accident, but now she is back at school, in the company of her two best friends, loved and accepted.
For as long as they can remember these three friends had kept
a pact – a promise to each other that they would never be split by a fight. But as they mature and change (at different paces)
this pact is challenged. When one of the friends gets a ‘sort of’ boyfriend the
dynamic of the trio begins to change. Bridge and Tab start to worry about the
direction Em’s fun new activities are taking her. Lessons about text bullying and safety are
raised through the storyline as the trio navigate the growing up process.
I loved the layering of several stories happening
at the same time in this novel and the inclusion of descriptions of complex
parent and family relationships. Especially delightful was Tab and her parents;
the way her family traditions were brought into the story and the role Tab’s
sister plays in advising the younger girls.
Families are complicated – complicated and yet ordinary at
the same time. That’s what I love about Rebecca Stead’s writing – it’s so very relatable.
Stead is the feel-good champion of the average family!
