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Title details for Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead - Available

Goodbye Stranger

by Rebecca Stead
Kimberly Farr
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
This brilliant, New York Times bestselling novel from the author of the Newbery Medal winner When You Reach Me explores multiple perspectives on the bonds and limits of friendship.
 
Long ago, best friends Bridge, Emily, and Tab made a pact: no fighting. But it’s the start of seventh grade, and everything is changing. Emily’s new curves are attracting attention, and Tab is suddenly a member of the Human Rights Club. And then there’s Bridge. She’s started wearing cat ears and is the only one who’s still tempted to draw funny cartoons on her homework.
 
It’s also the beginning of seventh grade for Sherm Russo. He wonders: what does it mean to fall for a girl—as a friend?
 
By the time Valentine’s Day approaches, the girls have begun to question the bonds—and the limits—of friendship. Can they grow up without growing apart?
 
“Sensitively explores togetherness, aloneness, betrayal and love.” —The New York Times
 
A Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book for Fiction
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, NPR, and more!

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 4, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781101916322
      • File size: 201298 KB
      • Duration: 06:59:22

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 560
    • Text Difficulty: 2-3

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This story, told from multiple points of view, translates beautifully to audio. Kimberly Farr provides the main narration from the point of view of middle schooler Bridge, while Meera Simhan performs chapters in the second person that follow an unnamed high schooler who is skipping school on Valentine's Day and Kirby Heyborne reads letters that Bridge's new friend, Sherm, writes to his estranged grandfather. Farr captures Bridge's intelligence but also her na•veté as she watches her friends take risks she doesn't quite understand and ponders her own changing feelings for Sherm. Simhan adds sharpness and worldliness to the Valentine's Day chapters while Heyborne focuses on Sherm's steadiness along with his vulnerability and hurt. The whole is an absorbing exploration of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness that sounds exactly like middle school. A.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 26, 2015
      Three tween girls navigate the perils of junior high, boys, and texting, in this friendship novel from Newbery Medal–winning Stead. Veteran audiobook narrator Farr reads the bulk of the novel from the perspective of Bridge, one of the three BFFs. It’s not clear why she has been cast here playing 23-year-olds, since her voice
      is clearly more suited to play their mothers. Even though she captures the sensitivity and humor of junior high, she’s fundamentally misplaced. The audio production also weaves in strong supporting performances by voice actor Heyborne, who reads the letters written by Sherm, Bridge’s friend turned love interest, and voice actor Simhan, who comes in and out of the story as a slightly older character whose identity is not revealed until the final scenes. Ages 10–up. A Random/Lamb hardcover.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 11, 2015
      Bridget Barsamian accidentally skated into traffic at age eight, and this brush with death has made her an uncommonly introspective seventh-grader. A tight triumvirate, Bridge and her friends Tab and Em have sworn upon a Twinkie never to fight, but now Em’s curves are attracting boy interest (and a request for a risqué photo), while Tab’s attentions are turning toward feminism and social justice. Meanwhile, Bridge has a new friend, Sherm; his share of the story unspools in letters to his estranged grandfather, who left Sherm’s beloved Nonna after 50 years of marriage. Then there is an unnamed high school–age character, whose second-person chapters take place on Valentine’s Day, months in the future. Keeping readers off-balance is a Stead hallmark, but it doesn’t work quite as successfully here as it did in When You Reach Me and Liar and Spy, perhaps because the mystery narrator and the people she interacts with aren’t as fleshed out as everyone else. That said, this memorable story about female friendships, silly bets, different kinds of love, and bad decisions is authentic in detail and emotion—another Stead hallmark. Ages 10–up. Agent: Faye Bender, Faye Bender Literary Agency.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:560
  • Text Difficulty:2-3

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