Rebecca Stead

This brilliant novel by Newbery Medal winner Rebecca Stead explores multiple perspectives on the bonds and limits of friendship. Bridge is an accident survivor who's wondering why she's still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture. Tabitha sees through everybody's games—or so she tells the world. The three girls are best friends with one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh grade? This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean to fall for a girl—as a friend? On Valentine's Day, an unnamed high school girl struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in plain sight? Each memorable character navigates the challenges of love and change in this captivating novel.

Goodbye Stranger

Jackie Cunningham

Super cute story, important subject for teens today.

Sarah Sammis

Melissa Palmer

Book #75 Read in 2015
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead (YA)

This book shows that tweens and teens can have it rough. Bridge, Tab and Emily have been friends for years. As they go through middle school, they begin to have different interests (civil right, boys and finding a spot to fit in) but they remain loyal to each other. A parallel story of 9th graders involving Tab's older sister Celeste and her friends Vinny and Gina show that high school has its own set of issues. These characters figure out what friendship is and that it is ok to follow ones own path. Well written, I think middle and high school girls would really enjoy it. I received a copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a honest review.

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Jeannette Ordas

A good quick read. If you liked When You Reach Me, this hits all the right notes - a good group of friends, all with their own hang ups. It takes place in current day NYC so there's lots of running around apartments and the issues are all relatable.

Back in grade five, Bridge, Tabitha and Emily made a pact. Never to fight, ever. Now, two years later, they’re still best friends, but other things are changing. Bridge meets Sherm, and is soon excited and confused by her new, strange feelings. And when Emily starts texting pictures of herself to Patrick, Bridge and Tab find themselves complicit in a naïve plan that quickly spirals out of control. And while the three friends navigate the challenges of their changing friendship, another story—of betrayal and remorse—keeps you guessing until the very end. Goodbye Stranger is a tender and intricate story about friendships, and love, and the pain of sometimes making the wrong choices. Rebecca Stead is the author of four novels: First Light, When You Reach Me (a New York Times bestseller and Newbery Medal winner), Liar & Spy (Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize winner and New York Times bestseller) and, most recently, Goodbye Stranger. She lives in New York City with her family. ‘This memorable story about female friendships, silly bets, different kinds of love, and bad decisions is authentic in detail and emotion—another Stead hallmark.’ STARRED Review, Publishers Weekly ‘[Stead] captures the stomach-churning moments of a misstep or an unplanned betrayal and reworks these events with grace, humour, and polish into possibilities for kindness and redemption. Superb.’ STARRED Review, Kirkus ‘Stead shows how strongly love of all kinds can smooth the juddering path toward adulthood. Winsome, bighearted, and altogether rewarding.’ STARRED Review, Booklist ‘[Stead’s writing is] filled with humor, delightful coincidences, and the sorts of things...that escalate in ways that can seem life-shattering to a 13-year-old. The author keeps all her balls in the air until she catches them safely with ineffable grace.’ STARRED Review, School Library Journal ‘Rebecca Stead’s story is multi-layered and sumptuous, beautifully plotted and a real page-turner.’ Alpha Reader ‘An unforgettable book about young girls coming of age written with wit and compassion.’ ReadPlus ‘Goodbye Stranger was such a pleasure to read…[Stead’s] teenage characters are so real, and charming and likeable, even when they’re not making the best decisions…I will continue to sing the praises of this new book well into the rest of the year (and probably much longer).’ Middle Chapter ‘[Stead has] a profound appreciation for the young people she writes for…She creates the kind of situations that would shatter a vulnerable thirteen-year-old girl but somehow manages to do so with a deft, light touch full of empathy and humour.’ Readings ‘Goodbye Stranger is the kind of book you might call a revelation. It is surprising, generous, thoughtful, honest and it paints a picture of the time after childhood and before youth more honestly than I have ever seen depicted.’ Where the Writer Comes to Write ‘The language is often dazzling and the minor characters have great appeal. A very satisfying read.’ Stuff NZ ‘The emotional complexity is deftly done by Stead in a way that is satisfying and accessible for young adults and adults alike, without being patronising, and acknowledging that we all make mistakes along the way.’ New Zealand Book Council

Light, easy and an inspiring middle school, coming-of-age read.

Maria Luiza

There's something about Rebecca's book that is just surreal and takes you to another reality. I first read When You Reach Me when I was very little and it touched me a lot, and now so did Goodbye Stranger.

The first thing I absolutely love about this book is that I know all the characters. She takes time showing them to us and you get to know all of them, so when it's the three girls talking just by what they're saying I know who they are. All characters have very distinct personalities and it's easy to discern them. I love that romance isn't the biggest plot of the book. I love that it tackles sensitive subjects for teenagers like having a nude picture leaked and losing a friend, and I think it does in a very natural way. I felt like if I was a teenager all over again. 

Definitely on my favorites list.

lauren

Martha F.

zaynah

Beckah brooks

Tess 

Emily Walker

Katie Day

"Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, New York, in 2015"--Title page verso.

Susannah Abel-Zucker

annette 

Simone Kuling

Yoomi

Bridge has always been a bit of an oddball, but since she recovered from a serious accident, she's found fitting in with her friends increasingly hard. Tab and Em are getting cooler and better and they don't get why she insists on wearing novelty cat ears every day. Bridge just thinks they look good. It's getting harder to keep their promise of no fights, especially when they start keeping secrets from each other. Sherm wants to get to know Bridge better. But he’s hiding the anger he feels at his grandfather for walking out. And then there is another girl, who is struggling with an altogether more serious set of friendship troubles... Told from interlinked points of view, this is a bittersweet story about the trials of friendship and growing up.

Goodbye Stranger

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