Rebecca Stead Popular Books
Rebecca Stead Biography & Facts
Rebecca Stead (born January 16, 1968) is an American writer of fiction for children and teens. She won the American Newbery Medal in 2010, the oldest award in children's literature, for her second novel When You Reach Me. She won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 2013 recognizing Liar & Spy as the year's best British children's book by a writer who has not previously won it. Life Born and raised in New York City, Stead enjoyed her elementary school years and fondly remembers reading books in a windowsill or under a table. She attended Vassar College and received her bachelors degree in 1989. Rebecca Stead is married to attorney Sean O'Brien and has two sons. She and her family live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Career Rebecca Stead enjoyed writing as a child but later felt that it was "impractical" and became a lawyer instead. After years as a public defender she returned to writing after the birth of her two children. She credits her son with inspiring her to write a children's novel, but not in the way one would expect. For years she had collected story ideas and short stories on a laptop, which the child one day pushed off a table, destroying what she considered her serious writing. As a way to lighten her mood she began again with something light-hearted — her debut novel First Light, which was published in 2007 by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House. Critical response In review of her second book, When You Reach Me (2009), Publishers Weekly applaude Stead's ability to "make every detail count" as she creates a plausible conclusion with these divergent and improbable plot lines. The New York Times Book Review called it a "taut novel, every word, every sentence, has meaning and substance." Stead was awarded the 2010 Newbery Medal by the Association for Library Service to Children for When You Reach Me. According to the chair, "Every scene, every nuance, every word is vital both to character development and the progression of the mystery that really is going to engage readers and satisfy them." In 2012, When You Reach Me was ranked number 11 among all-time best children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. It was the only 21st-century work among the top 28. Stead won the 2013 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for Liar & Spy, which was published in the UK by Andersen Press. Stead became the first winning writer from the U.S. – or from anywhere outside the British Commonwealth. Prior to 2012, eligibility had been extended to all books published or co-published in the U.K. (by writers who have not yet won the award). Goodbye Stranger was published by Wendy Lamb in August 2015. In a starred review (its third for Stead's novels), Kirkus Reviews observed that "the protagonists try on their new and changing lives with a mixture of caution and recklessness. Stead adroitly conveys the way things get complicated so quickly and so completely for even fairly ordinary children at the edge of growing up ... She captures the stomach-churning moments of a misstep or an unplanned betrayal and reworks these events with grace, humor, and polish into possibilities for kindness and redemption." Works First Light (Wendy Lamb Books, 2007) When You Reach Me (Wendy Lamb, 2009) Liar & Spy (Wendy Lamb, 2012) Goodbye Stranger (Wendy Lamb, 2015) LCCN 2014-37289 The List of Things That Will Not Change (Wendy Lamb, 2020) Adaptations When You Cant Reach Me: Listening Library (2009) 4 CDs, ISBN References External links Official website First Light (official) Rebecca Stead at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Rebecca Stead at Library of Congress, with 4 library catalog records. Discover the Rebecca Stead popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Rebecca Stead books.
Best Seller Rebecca Stead Books of 2024
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Welcome to Dweeb Club
Betsy UhrigFor fans of Gordon Korman comes a “funny and original” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade adventure about a school club whose members stumble across video footage of themselves from fiv...
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Extraordinary
Miriam Spitzer FranklinLast spring, Pansy chickened out on going to spring break camp, even though she’d promised her best friend, Anna, she’d go. It was just like when they went to get their hair cut fo...
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Call Me Sunflower
Miriam Spitzer FranklinSunny Beringer hates her first nameher real first nameSunflower. And she hates that her mom has suddenly left behind her dad and uprooted their family miles away from New Jersey to...
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Carry Me Home
Janet Fox“A poignant and powerful reminder that homelessness is not hopelessness.” Kirby Larson, author of Newbery Honor book Hattie Big Sky Two sisters struggle to keep their father’s disa...
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Deep Water
Jamie Sumner“Readers will feel every wave of Tully’s emotions as she risks everything to try to get her mom’s attention. A powerful novel in verse.” Lisa Fipps, author of Printz Honor book Sta...
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Rolling On
Jamie SumnerIn this heartfelt companion to Jamie Sumner’s acclaimed and beloved novels Roll with It and Time to Roll, Ellie finds herself faced with first love and learning to let go.It’s the ...
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The Mystery of Mystic Mountain
Janet FoxA girl tackles a summer filled with mystery, treasure, and learning to be her true self in this middle grade adventure that’s a modernday Holes set on a dusty dude ranch in Montana...
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Time to Roll
Jamie SumnerIn the eagerly anticipated sequel to Jamie Sumner’s acclaimed and beloved middle grade novel Roll with It, Ellie finds her own way to shine.Ellie is so not the pageant type. They’r...
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The Summer of June
Jamie SumnerFrom the acclaimed author of Tune It Out and Roll with It comes a “needed, hopeful” (Booklist) middle grade book about a young girl who sets out to overcome her anxiety over the co...
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Countdown to Yesterday
Shirley MarrRebecca Stead’s The List of Things That Will Not Change gets a “Space Oddity” scifi twist in this moving middle grade novel about one boy’s journey to go back in time to prevent hi...
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The Summer Before Boys
Nora Raleigh Baskin“Vivid and moving. I loved it.” Rebecca Stead, Newberywinning author of When You Reach MeJulia and Eliza are best friends, so when Julia’s mom is sent to serve in Iraq, it makes pe...
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The Lost Library
Rebecca Stead & Wendy MassNow a New York Times bestseller, a #1 Indie Bestseller, and the Amazon #1 Best Kids' Book of 2023, readers won't want to miss this story of a little free library guarded by a cat a...
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Maid for It
Jamie SumnerFrom the acclaimed author of Roll with It comes a relatable and “heartwrenching” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade novel about a girl who, in a desperate bid to keep her family afloat,...