Goodbye Stranger

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


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

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.

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.