Books for Tough Times: Moving

Mama and child discuss the family's upcoming move to a new house and the reasons why she does not wish to leave the child behind.

Almost every child knows what it's like to move or to have a friend move away. Ever since Gilbert the Great White Shark was a tiny pup, Raymond the Remora stuck to him like glue. Them, one day, Gilbert wakes to find his friend has left town to live somewhere new. "It's my fault," the little shark wails. "Last week I called him a sucker!" Nothing can console Gilbert: not his mother, not the funny clownfish, not his kind friends at school. Then he meets Rita, a disconsolate remora who has lost her shark. And that is the start of a beautiful new friendship.

Caroline lives on Meadowview Street. But where's the meadow? Where's the view? There's nothing growing in her front yard except grass. Then she spots a flower and a butterfly and a bird and Caroline realizes that with her help, maybe Meadowview Street can have a meadow after all.

A little girl and her family have just moved across the country by train. Their new neighborhood in the city of Toronto is very different from their home in the Saskatchewan bush, and at first everything seems better. Laurel Croza and Matt James have beautifully captured the voice and intense feelings of a young child who, in the midst of upheaval, finds hope in her new surroundings.

The U.S. debut of an incredible new illustrator introduces two everyday friends whose closeness endures no matter how far apart they are. Amy and Louie are the best of friends. They build towers as high as the sky, they look for magical creatures in clouds, and they always greet one another with their special call. But when Amy's family moves far across the ocean, the color drains out of their lives---until Louie finds a way to restore their special bond. A perfect book for any friends separated by a move, this is the unforgettable story of a friendship lost and found.

Two new neighbors discover that friends are what make a house a home.

This boy has trouble. The movers are here and they're loading the truck without a care for his feelings. 'Cause I like my room and I like my school, And we live real close to a swimming pool, And my best friend lives around the block. Why move to a place called Little Rock Anyway? Any child who has ever had to move will relate to the feelings of loss and also rejoice in the boy's newfound pleasures when he gets to his new neighborhood.

Living in a new house and about to start at a new school, Florence feels sad that she had to leave all her friends behind. So she decides to write a letter to the panda who lives in the zoo next door, asking him to be her friend. Thanks to Panda, Flo meets Bea, a little girl who shares her love of pandas, swimming, and hula-hooping, and all kinds of other things. A quiet, introspective story about finding the confidence to make new friends, Dear Panda plays with the boundaries of what's real and what's imagined, and will give readers a new way to think about finding kindred spirits.

Wooby lives in a nice, quiet neighborhood where everyone minds his own business. And he likes it that way. Then noisy, energetic Peep moves next door with her banging and smashing and crashing.

Perfectly content to stay at home, Nini soon embarks on a momentous journey in which she learns to embrace change.

Moving is hard on everyone, but especially children. Chester Racoon, is facing another dilemma common to the lives of many children; he and his family are moving. Young readers will love the way Chester says goodbye to his old home and learns that there are some exciting aspects to his new home.

Herman the bear and Henry the raccoon are best friends. But Henry's moving far, far away! So what do they do? Promise to write each other all the time and stay best friends forever, that's what. But being pen-pals is easier said than done, especially when your best friend seems to be having way more fun than you are. . . .

The fog in Foggytown was so thick that people bumped into parking meters . . . and streetlamps . . . and each other! So Joey and Chloe's parents decide it's time to move. But Joey and Chloe love their house. And as it turns out, their house loves them . . . and has a very special and utterly fantastic way of taking matters into its own hands.

Worried that they won't make friends in their new neighborhood, Mary Ann and Louie listen to Grandpa reminisce about the new friends he and his brother made when he moved to another neighborhood.

A boy and his family are packing up their old home, and the morning feels scary and sad. But when he arrives at his new home, an evening of good byes awaits: bye to new friends, bye to glowing fireflies, bye to climbing trees. The child-centric transition from dreary morning to cheerful evening comforts young readers facing big changes of their own.

When Alexander feels mad or dad he wants to move to Australia. But most of the time he likes it right where he is. So when his mom and dad say that they're moving a thousand miles away, Alexander decides that he's not going. Never, Not ever. No way. Uh uh. N.O. For how can he leave his best friend or his favorite sitter or Seymour the cleaners?

Ira confronts several emotions when he learns his best friend Reggie is moving away.

Moving all the way from the South Pole to the North Pole isn't easy for the young penguin Augustine. Uprooted from her home, she misses her friends, her grandma and grandpa and her old bedroom. There are all kinds of unfamiliar faces at the North Pole, and everything looks strange and different. When it's time to go to her new school, Augustine gets cold feet. But with the help of a few colored pencils and some inspiration from Picasso, this shy, artistic young penguin discovers a way to break the ice with her classmates and feel at home on the other end of the world.

New to the neighborhood, Thomas is shy about making friends until he wears a tiger suit on Halloween.

Kate Marino knows very well that home is where her heart is, and if she had any say in the matter, her heart would stay put in Big Red. The old, rambling farmhouse has withstood the test of time with her family, but now Kate's parents have decided to sell it from under her feet. The preventative solution: sabotage the realtor's tours with the help of best friends and a plan that has maximum stinkage potential. The back-up plan: hang on to at least a little bit of life at Big Red by creating shoebox dioramas of each room. But even with a full-scale assault, will her mission be a success? And if not, what will the diorama of Kate's future look like?

Is it possible to leave a piece of you wherever you go? Violet Mackerel thinks so in this fourth illustrated chapter book of a charming series. Violet Mackerel believes that wherever you leave something small, a tiny part of you gets to stay too-like how the little piece of green sea glass under the mattress at the beach house means that a little piece of Violet gets to stay on summer holiday. Violet's theory is put to the test when Mama and Vincent announce some very special news: They are going to get married. And they are all going to move. Violet is excited for the wedding, but Dylan is angry about the move. When Dylan won't budge, the wedding preparations feel a bit sad. But just in time, Violet thinks of the perfect way to help Dylan feel better about moving. And her Theory of Leaving Small Things Behind is going to come in handy!

When ten-year-old Cyrus sees a For Sale sign plunged into his front lawn, it's a complete and utter disaster. Usually, his younger brother, Rudy, is the scaredy-cat, but for the first time in his life, Cyrus is terrified. He's lived at 637 Petunia Boulevard since he came to live with his adoptive mom and dad at two months old. Won't he go hurtling into outer space without these four familiar walls to hold him in? Luckily, Cyrus has a few sneaky tricks up his sleeve to stop this moving business before it even gets started.

Fenway is an excitable and endlessly energetic Jack Russell terrier. He lives in the city with Food Lady, Fetch Man, and--of course--his beloved short human and best-friend-in-the-world, Hattie; But when his family moves to the suburbs, Fenway faces a world of changes. He's pretty pleased with the huge Dog Park behind his new home, but he's so happy about the Evil Squirrels that taunt him from the trees, the super-slippery Wicked Floor in the Eating Room, and the changes that have come over Hattie lately. Rather than playing with Fenway, she seems more interested in her new short human friend, Angel, and learning to play baseball. His friends in the Dog Park next door say Hattie is outgrowing him, but that can't be right. And he's going to prove it!

Now that Amber's mom and Max are married, the three of them are moving to a new house and Amber is worried about more than just packing. How can she leave the home her dad used to live in? And with her dad dating again, how will they ever find time for just the two of them, like they used to?

Kate Sommers is stunned when her parents announce that their family is moving from sunny California to Belletoona, Pennsylvania. Kate can't bear leaving her friends, her cool surfer boyfriend, and the beach. But maybe, just maybe, Belletoona won't be so bad. Forget it. All it ever does is snow in Belletoona -- and Kate's already in trouble with the principal and half her class. What's worse is her younger sister, who acts like Miss Perfect. Kate's had it. Nothing will stop her from going back to California where she belongs.

Beatrice More is no average third-grader. She is a list-making, hyperorganized perfectionist whose laid-back parents and messy little sister consistently frustrate her high standards. And when a new house, a new neighborhood and new friends are thrown into the mix, Beatrice sends the family into a comic tailspin, all in the name of "professionalism." Despite her most feverish organizational efforts, Beatrice ultimately discovers that some of the best experiences are the ones you can't control.

After Hattie and her three best friends watch one of their classmates publicly defriended in the school cafeteria, they make a loyalty pact promising never to mistreat each other. But after Hattie unwittingly breaks the pact, her friends begin ignoring her. In fact, they literally don't even know who she is anymore! Can Hattie figure out how to break the spell and make things right again?

The events around moving to a new house can be daunting. This insightful book takes readers through the highs and lows of leaving a beloved home for a whole new one. Readers are encouraged to enjoy the chance to explore a new life.

Read 'Moving' to learn about the feelings many people experience when they move to a new home. This sensitive book describes the process of moving and explores the ways people can start to feel settled in a new place.

Read 'Moving' to learn about the feelings many people experience when they move to a new home. This sensitive book describes the process of moving and explores the ways people can start to feel settled in a new place.

The traumas and trials of moving away are poignantly expressed in new poems from a respected writer. Ralph Feltcher's poems evoke what's hard about moving away as well as what makes moving day, well, maybe, okay.