On February 3, author Rebecca Stead visited GMS and spoke to our entire student body. This January, her novel When You Reach Me won the John Newbery Medal for outstanding children's literature, the top prize for children's book authors. The novel is set in New York City in the 1970s, and tells the story of Miranda, a sixth-grader, who gets mysterious notes saying she needs to be saved from a future tragedy. The judges heaped praise on Stead's intricate book, explaining that every scene and word is "vital to the plot."