Goodbye Stranger (edició 2017)

Weird. Pleasing. Possibly not quite as weird or as pleasing as some of her previous books, but the characters are quirkily endearing (yay cat ears), refreshingly unsure about romance, and generally working through some very realistic social media dilemmas. Good times! ( )

I read this book in 6th grade and it was my favorite. I still really like it. Rebecca Stead has such charm in her writing. You fall in love with all of her characters. A lot of people criticize the "Mystery Girl" POV, but I appreciate the idea and I think she did it well. I used to think all the characters were so mature, but now that I'm older than the oldest principal character who is 14, I see this book in a different light. It's like a time capsule for me because I relate to all the characters. ( )

I chose this book based on how much I love the author's [When You Reach Me], which I've read three times. But in this book, although the author still has a way with creating charming, layered middle-grade characters, she was all over the place, as though this were almost an experimental project. The POV changes between several characters, which is fine. One character has both third-person POV, plus some sections that are him writing letters in first person, which is fine. But another character remains unnamed until the end of the book, with her sections in second person present tense. This character is referring to characters that none of the others do, so it's quite confusing. I figured out who this one was just before it was revealed, and it was just one big ... fizzle. ( )

children's middlegrade fiction (7th graders/9th graders, bullying, sexting, changing friendships, and growing up). Reviewed from uncorrected ARC. Incidentally, one of the girls is east Indian and one of the girls has PTSD from a bad car accident (another's parents are divorced), but none of these things is central to the plot.

Another well-written realistic fiction from Rebecca Stead. That unnamed girl could be ANYONE, and I feel like kids would get that, because middle school/high school is so rife with these kinds of situations.

I feel like pushing this into the hands of all the middleschool parents and telling them to TELL YOUR KIDS TO PUT A CODE LOCK ON THEIR PHONES (because I see them get snatched practically every day, for fun or for more nefarious purposes) and also, of course, to talk/listen to their kids and keep that line of communication open. ( )

In Stead's brilliant "When You Reach Me," we had a confusing plot going in many directions, which was all tied together perfectly at the end. The story in "Goodbye Stranger" does go in many directions, but it isn't tied together so perfectly upon the conclusion. While the whole story was well told, the characters were engaging, and several were likable and sympathetic, at the end I was left wondering what the real point of it all was.
There are five major characters - Bridge, Tab, and Em are three middle school best friends; girls. Sherm is a boy whom Bridge has found and really likes, but isn't sure in what way she likes him. Their stories all aim towards a conclusion on Valentine's day, for several reasons. Then there is an unnamed high school girl, whose entire story takes place on Valentine's Day. She seems to have little relation to the other four, who are all in middle school. At the end, we find out who the unnamed girl is, but it's a bit unsatisfying, because her story still has nothing to do with the others, even though we discover a kinship.
One final comment: Although four of the main characters are in middle school, they seemed so high schoolish, I was unable to perceive them as seventh graders, even when we are repeatedly told that. ( )