When You Reach Me: Theme *Spoiler Alert*

          I am currently near the end of When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, and a lot has changed since my first blog post about it when I was at the beginning of the book. Miranda has started to get letters from this mysterious person. The person asks her to do many things. A lot of this story has been a mystery. One mystery besides the letters is that someone has stole Jimmy's bank full of two dollar bills. Jimmy got so mad that he locked the door to his store and fired all Miranda and her friends from their job at Jimmy's store. Many other things have gone on, like Sal getting beat up. Miranda and all of her friends, including Colin and Annemarie, keep thinking about who has stole the bank full of two dollar bills. One day, when Miranda goes to a store, the cashier showed Miranda all of the two dollar bills that she has received from the laughing man, a crazy man on the street. It then becomes clear to Miranda that it was him that has stole all of the two dollar bills. From there, all of the mysteries start to get solved, even though where I am at in the book not all of them are solved yet. After the robber gets revealed, the mystery writer gets revealed, who is the laughing man. With all these events, the writer has some themes that she wants the reader to think, feel, and know.

     First of all, when the laughing man stole the bank full of two dollar bills and Jimmy blames Miranda, Colin, and Annemarie, the author wants us to know that not everything is fair, but in the end, things usually turn out for the best. The same principle follows in the book. When the laughing man stole the bank full of two dollar bills, at first it is unfair for Miranda, Colin, and Annemarie. It even gets unfair for Julia even though she doesn't even work at Jimmy's store. As it says in the book, "'You think Julia took the money?' Colin laughed. 'Julia needs money like a fish needs a bicycle.' Jimmy shook his head. 'Some things are in the blood. All the money in the world can't change a person's blood.' 'What do you mean blood?' Annemarie had her hands on her hips. 'What blood?' Jimmy pointed his big finger right at me. 'Like you call her, Swiss Miss: hot chocolate'" (129). Jimmy means being African American when he says Swiss Miss: hot chocolate. Julia gets discriminated, and Colin, Miranda, and Annemarie gets fired for a while because of the laughing man's robbery. But in the end, they get their job back, and everything become fair. Another thing that isn't fair is Miranda's relationship with Sal. Miranda was such a good friend to Sal, but after he left her, she was so alone and sad. That wasn't fair and nice, but once Sal's life gets saved by the laughing man, Sal and Miranda become closer since they are in tough times.

     Second of all, the author wants us to feel and know that everything is not what it seems. In this story, no one had any ides that it is the laughing man that has stole Jimmy's bank full of two dollar bills. No one knew that Sal would leave Miranda when they were so close and that nothing seemed to split them apart. No one suspected that it was the laughing man who was writing Miranda these crazy mysterious notes. No one even thought that the laughing man would kill himself to save Sal. The author, Rebecca Stead, wants us to always not assume something and always expect something else so that you would be prepared. The author also wants us to always think about something, and to never leave it until it is solved. This is what happened to Miranda. She thought hard and tried to put all the pieces together to solve this mystery that does get very complicated. As I said in my last blog post, Miranda will use her determination to solve this mystery, and she did.

     In conclusion, the author, Rebecca Stead, wants us to know that everything is not what it seems, and that not everything is fair, but in the end, things usually turn up for the best. The examples in this book shows us what the author wants us to feel, think, and know. These themes can really help you in everyday life. Inn addition to that, Miranda does use the character traits, caring determined, and cautious, to help solve the mystery. Even though I almost finished the book, more important things can come up, and I can't wait to read on.