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Goodbye Stranger | September 9, 2015

by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House Children’s Books, August 2015)

Surviving middle school should be a breeze for Bridge Barsamian, who survived being hit by a car at the age of eight—but it’s far from it. Bridge is part of a tight-knit trio, along with Em and Tab. The best friends have just one rule: no fighting. Their pact is put to the test when Em’s risqué selfie falls into the wrong hands and sparks a school-wide controversy. Meanwhile, Bridge finds a different kind of friendship with Sherm, a boy who writes letters to his estranged grandfather, but can’t find the courage to send them. Their stories intertwine with that of an unnamed high schooler, playing hooky after a fight with friends.

Rebecca Stead delivers another warmhearted and intelligent middle-grade novel, this time exploring the intricacies of young relationships, both online and off. While Goodbye Stranger is firmly set in the digital age, it raises perennial themes of love and friendship, intimacy and privacy, (mis)communication, and just about every other issue that young people grapple with during that difficult in-between stage of junior high. Stead captures it all with poignant realism, making this 20-something glad she doesn’t have to relive it.

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