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These books are ranked using the themes labels extracted for When You Reach Me.
Themes labels used: growing up, friendship, family, sacrifice, loss, memory, trust, perspective shift, selfishness, empathy, small acts, coming of age, time, time and change, racism, class, homelessness, single motherhood, bullying, violence, self-sacrifice, reading
This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their themes embeddings are close.
A girl’s ordinary summer visit becomes a race through time when she lands one year ahead and finds her best friend’s life changed.
Why this is here
Themes labels: friendship · family · loss · grief · fate · time · choice · regret · growing up · appreciation · present moment · change · consequences · identity · self-confidence
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1228
Five friends chase a secret mission at a coastal cave and stumble into a dangerous other world that changes everything.
Why this is here
Themes labels: growing up · friendship · lies · secrets · grief · loss · mental health · depression · self-harm · abuse · domestic violence · identity · change · responsibility · survival · choice and consequence
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1239
A bookish teen in a mountain town wakes changed, craving blood, and must uncover what’s happening before it consumes her.
Why this is here
Themes labels: identity · transformation · self-discovery · loss of control · grief · trauma · coming of age · hunger · desire · morality · survival · forgiveness · family bonds · friendship · change · humanity · loss of innocence · responsibility · secrecy · belonging
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1251
Four lifelong friends on an annual Maine hunting trip are drawn into an alien invasion that tests their bond and minds.
Why this is here
Themes labels: friendship · memory · loss · loyalty · trauma · pain · childhood · adulthood · identity · survival · good and evil · fear · humanity · empathy · difference · corruption · government overreach · disability · mortality · sacrifice
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1271
A teen falls for a girl, loses her, and gets repeated chances to rewind time—at a cost to everyone else he loves.
Why this is here
Themes labels: grief · love · friendship · family · choices · consequences · fate · second chances · letting go · living in the present · sacrifice · loyalty · regret · selfishness · identity · race and representation
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1272
A struggling single mother slips between 1970s California and a fog-bound 1906 farm community, torn between two homes.
Why this is here
Themes labels: belonging · home · motherhood · sacrifice · time · loss · longing · nostalgia · identity · personal growth · acceptance · community · social change · simple living · family conflict · love · tradeoffs · future shock · memory
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1281
A grieving middle-aged sorcerer-in-training seeks power and revenge in a transformed world that no longer remembers her daughter.
Why this is here
Themes labels: grief · trauma · memory · survivor guilt · healing · forgiveness · identity · self-discovery · agency · power · change · inheritance · coming of age · late blooming · motherhood · moral reckoning · sexual violence · patriarchy · ageism · sexism · community memory · forgetting · restoration · redemption
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1307
When suburban kids find a dead superhero in the woods, their secret upends friendship, loyalty, and growing up.
Why this is here
Themes labels: coming of age · loss of innocence · friendship · loss · grief · mortality · secrets · power · responsibility · identity · adolescence · bullying · family dysfunction · hero worship · moral choice · fear and panic
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1320
A teen mecha team faces apocalyptic threats while buried secrets, trauma, and shifting bonds push everyone to breaking point.
Why this is here
Themes labels: trauma · depression · abandonment · fear · duty · sacrifice · survival · identity · loneliness · coming of age · trust · agency · parental neglect · emotional breakdown · moral conflict · self-worth · human connection · apocalypse · redemption · rebirth
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1339
A lonely girl finds a mysterious cinema and is drawn into time travel to uncover family truths and face her loss.
Why this is here
Themes labels: loss · grief · hope · memory · identity · growing up · self-acceptance · family wounds · returning home · forgiveness · truth-seeking · loneliness · courage · choice · time and change
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1342
A teen math prodigy with leukemia and a D&D friend group gets pulled into a time-travel mystery that could save a girl.
Why this is here
Themes labels: friendship · mortality · coming of age · grief · choice and consequence · fate · identity · memory · adolescence · living with illness · self-sacrifice · love · courage · physics and free will
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1344
Two brothers chase a way to restore their bodies while uncovering a vast alchemical conspiracy.
Why this is here
Themes labels: family · sacrifice · perseverance · grief · trauma · guilt · identity · equivalent exchange · life and death · morality · responsibility · memory · self-sufficiency · trust · coming of age
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1347
A Scottish teen and her friends fight to survive a zombie outbreak that erupts just as Christmas break begins.
Why this is here
Themes labels: coming of age · grief · death · survival · friendship · loyalty · self-discovery · future anxiety · high school alienation · holiday stress · humanity vs monstrosity · courage · sacrifice · loss · control vs chaos · small-town escape
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1350
Four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls are swept into a chaotic time-travel mystery that tests friendship and identity.
Why this is here
Themes labels: coming of age · loss of innocence · nostalgia · identity · self-discovery · friendship · time · adulthood · growing up · war and conflict · fate · memory · inner child
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1356
A slum thief hunts her brother’s killer in a vast city of secrets, grief, and political intrigue.
Why this is here
Themes labels: grief · loss · family · loyalty · friendship · survival · poverty · class inequality · power · corruption · identity · self-discovery · morality · colonialism · betrayal · trust · political upheaval · memory · sacrifice · human longings
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1359
A grieving 12-year-old uses his late father’s time machine to try to save him, with a hamster in tow.
Why this is here
Themes labels: grief · family · loss · change · memory · identity · immigration · choices · regret · consequences · time · coming of age · bullying · love · mourning
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1360
A winged teen surviving a brutal future city is pulled into a dangerous reunion with the family she never knew.
Why this is here
Themes labels: family · identity · survival · loyalty · freedom · resistance · abandonment · hope · belonging · growing up · choice · trust · memory loss · parenthood · corruption · authoritarianism · community · self-doubt · nostalgia · legacy
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1364
A grieving teen investigates a rumor-laden tunnel that can grant wishes at a cost, and meets a girl with her own secret agenda.
Why this is here
Themes labels: grief · loss · acceptance · moving on · guilt · trauma · identity · legacy · regret · hope · love · memory · self-acceptance · adolescence · choice · sacrifice · time · personal growth · truth and denial · finding purpose
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1370
A lonely sixth grader’s hand-me-down phone leads her into a secret time-travel network, riddles, and a mission to change history.
Why this is here
Themes labels: family · responsibility · growing up · belonging · identity · belonging and otherness · kindness · compassion · grief · death · loss · war · history · cause and effect · choices and consequences · small actions · perseverance · self-discovery · being yourself · generational trauma · hope · sacrifice · love · truth seeking · historical memory
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1374
![Cover of ダンダダン 5 [Dan Da Dan 5] by Yukinobu Tatsu](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651084228i/60893445.jpg)
A cursed mountain-town visit turns into a chaotic mix of haunted-house mystery, monster attacks, and messy teen feelings.
Why this is here
Themes labels: friendship · romantic tension · trauma · sympathy for monsters · misunderstanding · child sacrifice · human cruelty · isolation · coming of age · loyalty
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1379
A wartime girl is swept into the future and must navigate grief, new allies, and a path back to her best friend.
Why this is here
Themes labels: friendship · loyalty · grief · loss · survivor guilt · identity · belonging · resilience · adaptation · courage · home · memory · forgiveness · growing up · self-discovery · chosen family · hope · perseverance · regret · kindness · bullying · war aftermath · reading · libraries
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1379
Final-volume manga finale where two brothers confront a godlike enemy to reclaim their bodies and save their world.
Why this is here
Themes labels: sacrifice · equivalent exchange · humanity · hope · resilience · morality · ethics · war · anti-war · racism · equity · power and responsibility · mortality · family · friendship · love · altruism · redemption · grief · coming of age
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1384
![Cover of ダンダダン 18 [Dan Da Dan 18] by Yukinobu Tatsu](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1735199819i/221715565.jpg)
A cursed board-game battle spirals into possession, reinforcements, and a devastating backstory reveal.
Why this is here
Themes labels: trauma · grief · loss · childhood hardship · social critique · empathy · redemption · friendship · protector instinct · unfairness of life
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1386
Two former friends relive graduation day in a time loop, forcing them to rethink love, friendship, and the future.
Why this is here
Themes labels: growing up · identity · grief · friendship · change · future anxiety · self-discovery · belonging · family expectations · responsibility · moving on · perception · memory · privilege · racism · sexuality
Semantic match: ranked by themes
Distance: 0.1402
