Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Goodbye Stranger by Newbery winner Rebecca Stead is a nostalgia-inducing story, even for someone who did not grow up with cell phones.  And, if you are not middle-aged like me, it is a super important read for tweens and young teens and parents/teachers of tweens and young teens.  The story is about friendship, love, and learning to find oneself during those mostly tumultuous years. 

Bridge is entering her teen years as a free spirit whose only concern with fashion is with a pair of security-inducing cat ears.  After years of being an inseparable trio, Bridge is branching out from her Twinkie-swearing, non-fighting friends of Tab and Emily and has even agreed to a cinnamon toast non-date with Sherm, a new guy-friend she made in the seventh grade Tech Club.  As life would have it in junior high, Tab and Emily are branching out too.  Tab has become a devout follower of her activist teacher the Berperson (her name is Ms. Berman; she wanted to lose the man), and Tab makes sure that the trio are always on the lookout for ways to make humanity more equal and just.  Emily, whose body hit puberty much more quickly than Tab and Bridge, turns out to be a great soccer player and makes a new group of older friends who are into boys and fashion.  Emily’s interest in boys and an apparent run-in with a “mean girl” leave her right in the middle of a scandal.  As the three friends work to deal with Emily’s situation, along with coping with general life as a teen, readers get to see the characters grow both individually and in friendship.  Emily’s scandal really does shed light on just how much pressure can exist for young teens in the age of technology.  It provides a great moment for reader reflection and contemplation. 

As soon as I can pull my own twelve-year-old daughter away from the Embassy Row novels (for a future blog), I want her to read Goodbye Stranger.  It is important for her to see what a thriving friendship looks like, to observe teens who are searching for their true selves, and to watch what happens to Emily because of her choice.  I want to talk with my daughter about how great I think she is for not caring whether or not her hair is perfect every morning and for being a reader in the face of the geek labels and for drawing her own designs on her brand new pair of Converse.  I want her to feel free to be true to herself when the pressure to fit a mold really kicks in.  I want her to be strong like Tab and unique like Bridge, and I want her to fall in love, like Emily did (without the scandal, of course).  But, I want to talk to her about what that looks like.  Talking about what will be facing her with relationships as she moves through her teen years is so important.  My daughter will face so much more than I did.  I want her to have vicariously, safely lived it through the lives of Tab, Emily, and Bridge so that she can make good decisions for herself as she travels her world.     

If that does not convince you to read Goodbye Stranger, then Stead has added another interesting component that will surely keep you reading.  Mixed in with Emily, Tab, and Bridge are a set of chapters told in second-person narrative.  Yes, you read that right!  It is a mysterious set of chapters where “you” have skipped school and are hiding out in a coffee shop, avoiding a terrible fate that you are sure you will face on Valentine’s Day.  It is completely mysterious until the very end, just the type of story that I also love.  And, the story just adds one more layer to the depth of complexity that makes up the life of a teenager. 

I have said this before, but I cannot say it enough.  The importance of reading contemporary realistic fiction rests in the fact that readers can learn about themselves and others through the lives of characters.  They can be more empathetic to those who have been in the middle of the scandal, and they have time to think about what they would do if the scandal came knocking on their door.  Books give us time to think and learn before we are faced with our own tough decisions.  And, talking about books cannot be understated.   Young teens, both boys and girls, need to be talking about situations like Emily’s.  Parents and teachers need to be talking with teens about situations like Emily’s. 

So, read this book.  I would love to hear what it meant for you as a parent, teacher, or teen.  Most importantly, remember what it's like to feel “and…and…and…” (p. 287).

Goodbye Stranger, 289 pages from Wendy Lamb Books of Random House (August 4, 2015); ISBN: 9780385743174

Ideal for tweens and young teens (or those of us who care about tweens and young teens…that should be everyone!)