[4] Born and raised in New York City, Stead enjoyed her elementary school years and fondly remembers reading books in a windowsill or under a table.
As a way to lighten her mood she began again with something light-hearted[1][5] — her debut novel First Light, which was published in 2007 by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House.
In review of her second book, When You Reach Me (2009), Publishers Weekly applaude Stead's ability to "make every detail count" as she creates a plausible conclusion with these divergent and improbable plot lines.
"[10] In 2012, When You Reach Me was ranked number 11 among all-time best children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience.
Stead adroitly conveys the way things get complicated so quickly and so completely for even fairly ordinary children at the edge of growing up ... She captures the stomach-churning moments of a misstep or an unplanned betrayal and reworks these events with grace, humor, and polish into possibilities for kindness and redemption.