Picture Book Resources
My New Home by Marta Altés
A little critter deals with moving away from a house and friends he loves to a new place. It takes him a while to get adjusted, but eventually he comes to like the new place and new friends too.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Moving: A great book to use when talking to kids about the hardships of moving. It addresses very real struggles and hurts, while also offering hope. This is the shortest of the books in this list, and best one for the very youngest kids facing moves.
- Animal Lovers: The main character is an animal (though what kind of animal is up for debate…is it a fox with a striped tail?), so this should be good for animals lovers.
- Art Lovers: I like the art style in this. It helps convey the mood well.
Teacup by Rebecca Young, ill. by Matt Ottley
A little boy has to leave his home, so he sets off in a boat with just a book, a bottle, a blanket, and a teacup full of dirt from his old home. The journey is sometimes peaceful and at other times scary, but eventually he finds a new place to call home.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Moving: This boy is dealing with a very extreme move.
- Refugees: The text in this is short and eloquent and provides a modern folk tale/fable helping readers better understand the plight of refugees, which is important and beautifully done.
- Folk Tale/Fable Fans: As mentioned, the style of this is folklorish.
- Art Lovers: What really shines in this are the illustrations. They are gorgeous. Full of symbolism and amazing beauty.
- Bonds of Shared Experience: The ending also provides a good opportunity to discuss why we like to have others who have experienced the same thing around us.
Alexander, Who’s Not (Do you hear me? I mean it!) Going to Move by Judith Viorst, ill. by Robin Preiss Glasser in the style of Ray Cruz
Alexander is most definitely NOT moving. His parents may be packing, his brothers may be packing, he may be saying goodbyes to people and places, but he's also plotting how to stay. And even if he might be coming around to moving, he's not going to admit it.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Moving: Viorst managed to make a tale of little boy angst and have him leave well even while sportin' an attitude. He says goodbye to both people and places, which is good for those moving. He relives good and bad memories of his home town, which is important. He expresses his fears about the future, even if he has a negative attitude, it becomes obvious his parents hear him and start to address those fears. And just maybe, some of what they've said is getting through. A good story for those having a hard time moving, or even those who seem to be handling it well. It's always good to check. Ask them if they are tempted to act like Alexander, or if they ever had thoughts like his, worries about the future, or plots to stay. It's a good discussion starter.
- Humor Fans: The illustrations in this are black and white but so very expressive. Some of them are quite hilarious too. (Make sure to read the headline of the newspaper Mom is reading while Alexander is on the phone with his friend.) And the illustration of his imagined hiding in the pickle barrel is too funny.
- Realistic Character Fans: Alexander is a very believable character for those who like their stories true to life.
Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, ill. by Byron Barton
A boy is moving with his family from the East (which looks like New York City) out West. At first the boy is in denial about moving. He starts listing his worries and sharing his vision for what life will be like out West. (Much of which is hilariously ridiculous, though very believable to be concerns about a kid in a new place.) When he arrives out West, he meets a kid moving East. This kid shares his fears about how horrible life will be in the big city out East. Like our main character, much of what he fears is hilariously ridiculous. Thanks to that encounter and the evidence of his own eyes, our boy finds that many of his worries were not founded on facts, that there's much familiar, and maybe he can enjoy this new place too.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Moving: This is a great read for anyone preparing for or recovering from a move.
- Point of View: It's also a good book about perspective and point of view, with the main character’s view compared with the kid from the West’s view.
- New Experience Worries: Moving isn’t the only thing that inspires worries; reading this is a good jumping off point to talk about the worries before any new experience.
- Worries about Next School Year: This point goes along with moving and new experiences. Kids may not be moving houses, but most of them will face a move in classroom next year. And there are always rumors about the next grade or a certain teacher. This may be a good book to read with kids and talk about their concerns for next year. You can also talk about how they can end the school year well. Do they need to say goodbye to the classroom they've spent so much time in this year? Do they need to be purposeful in saying goodbye to teachers they will only see occasionally in the future?
- Hyperbole: If you’re looking for some examples of hyperbole, look no further than the boy’s vision of the West or the other kid’s vision of the East.
- Humor Fans: That hyperbole makes this a fun and humorous read.
Double Happiness by Nancy Tupper Ling, ill. by Alina Chau
Gracie and Jake are moving. Moving away from their extended family to a new place with a new climate. Their Nai Nai (Grandma) gives them each a box to fill with memories they can take with them when they move. Told through a series of poems, the two Chinese American kids process moving and figure out what to put in their boxes.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Moving: Moving is often a traumatic experience for kids, and this perfectly encapsulates the highs and lows of that experience, putting it into just the right words, and great strategies to make the move easier.
- Chinese Culture: This has an interesting cultural flavor with some transliterated Chinese and some Chinese characters that are used throughout.
- Poetry Fans: The text in this is all in poetic form.
- Contemporary Fiction Fans: Another good pick for readers who like realistic stories.
Another possibility: There are tons and tons of various versions and adaptations of Disney/Pixar's Inside Out in book form. Many of them are also good for kids dealing with a move, as that is a main issue in the plot.
Middle Grade Fiction Resources
Book Scavenger (Book Scavenger, #1) by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, ill. by Sarah Watts
Emily's family is moving again. Her family's quest to live in all 50 States is starting to get a little old. It's the reason Emily usually tries not to make friends in new places. But her new neighbor James is another puzzle enthusiast and the same age, and before Emily realizes it, she's made a friend. She's not too used to this friend thing, and she might struggle with knowing how to be a good friend. Especially when she has to choose between taking time for her friendship or pursuing the next step in what she's sure is Mr. Griswold's next game. Emily's one constant in her past few moves has been her participation in Book Scavenger, a game created by Mr. Griswold where people hide books, solve puzzles to find books, of course read books, and move up the Book Scavenger sleuthing scale. When Emily and James stumble on a strange copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Gold Bug, she's sure it is part of Mr. Griswold's new game he was about to announce when he was mugged the day her family moved to San Francisco. Is she just imagining the puzzles? Will her obsession with the game cost her her friendship with James and him a swatch of hair in his cipher contest at school? Who else is after The Gold Bug and how far are they willing to go to get it?
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Cipher/Puzzle/Mystery Fans: Fans of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library and Westing Game are sure to love this. Not only because Emily mentions both books, but because of the ciphers and puzzles and the great big scavenger hunt/mystery involved in the story. Those who love to exercise their brain a little as they read will enjoy trying to figure out things with Emily and James. (And Bertman mentions in the back of the book some other similar gamest/challenges that are real, and as of October 2015, this book sparked the creation of a real Book Scavenger game.) Definitely a fun adventure/mystery for book and puzzle lovers.
- Moving: Kids who move a lot will also greatly identify with the issues Emily is dealing with about moving a lot such as being afraid to open up to new friends or getting too attached to a new place because then it'll just hurt more to leave. She makes progress in addressing these issues as the book progresses.
- Friendship & Forgiveness: Emily learns some important things about friendship and forgiveness, along the way. And hopefully, readers can learn vicariously without making the same mistakes.
Moo by Sharon Creech
After Luke and Reena's parents lose their jobs at a New York City newspaper, the family decides to move to Maine. Upon arrival, Reena finds the freedom to ride their bikes everywhere around town amazing. She does not find being volunteered to help curmudgeonly Mrs. Falala take care of the even worse tempered cow Zora, and neither does her little brother Luke. Zora seems to think it is her goal in life to make Reena's life as hard and muddy as possible. But then Mrs. Falala starts to get art lessons from Luke and seems to mellow a little, and Reena gets cow handling advice from experienced cow hands, Zep and Beat. Reena's going to need all the help she can get because Mrs. Falala wants her to show Zora at the fair.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Unique Text Format: Creech decided to use a blend of novel in verse and normal prose, which could be off-putting to some readers. I personally thought it was a good choice, as often the verse lent itself to express things that normal prose never could.
- Moving: Luke and Reena deal with a little bit of culture shock in moving from city living to a more rural village, and they have realistically mixed feelings about that.
- Domestic Animal Lovers: Cows aren’t a frequent main character in modern middle grade fiction, so I’m sure there are several readers out there who have been waiting for Zora to make her appearance and will love her.
- Art Lovers: Luke is an artist, so those who like main characters who are artistic will like him. Art also is an important medium for helping Luke and Reena better connect with Mrs. Falala.
- Contemporary Fiction Fans: A relatively quick read for those who like contemporary reads in a rural setting.
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