“This is where I live— / in the yellow house / with the white shutters.” For Diana, the idea of “home” is defined by her immediate world of comfort and familiarity. But when Diana’s dad loses his job, her family has to move all the way across Pennsylvania to live with her grandfather, leaving her beloved house, and her beloved best friend, far away. Even surrounded by her loving and supportive family, Diana finds nothing is the same. Eileen Spinelli takes a tender, honest look at displacement in this novel-in-poems written in aspiring poet Diana’s first-person voice. E-mailing her best friend helps, so does the poetry workshop Diana is able to attend when she goes back “home.” But what matters most is time to embrace a new idea of where home is, and what it can be. Matt Phelan’s lyrical illustrations are a wonderful grace note to Spinelli’s quitely compelling story. (Ages 8–10)

Diana loves where she lives. She loves the astronomy charts on her walls and the fact that she can wave to her best friend, Rose, from her very own window. And best of all, a wren has recently made its home right by her front door! When her family is forced to move, Diana wonders if she?ll ever find that same grounded and happy feeling again.

This gentle and ultimately redeeming story in poems is about those secure and fulfilling friendships that happen naturally and easily when you live right next door, and the struggles of losing the comfort of a familiar place. Matt Phelan's warm and expressive illustrations perfectly complement Eileen Spinelli's tenderhearted and unique tale that reminds us that sometimes a little uprooting and change is necessary for growth.