By Regina Teltser
Moving is a stressful event at any age, but children can take it especially hard, largely because they have no say in the matter. To a child, moving is something that the adults in their life inflict on them randomly without reason or discussion (mind you, this is how children see many decisions their parents make). It can be frightening, and it can seem unfair. So, of course, it is a very common theme and set-up for children’s stories and stories about children, be it in the form of movies (Inside Out, Spirited Away, The Karate Kid), television or books. After all, suffering makes for great art. It’s also a very common set-up for stories for dramatic purposes: everyone can relate to a fish-out-of-water-story because everyone feels like an outsider who doesn’t know where they are or what they’re doing at some point in their lives, plus it allows for convenient world-building. However, a list of books about being new in school would need to be its own top 10 list—not that there’s no overlap—and today, I’m just tackling moving.
Big Ernie’s New Home: a Story for Children who are Moving
Teresa & Whitney Martin
Told from the point of view of the family cat, with the little boy as the cat’s comforter. This is unique because most books about moving focus on the child protagonist’s emotions with the adults in the role(s) of comforters; having the child character as the comforter can be empowering and encouraging for youngsters. It’s about the long process of moving and the different emotions one goes through in a move, so it’s a bit longer than other picture books. However, it also has notes for adults at the end, which could be very helpful for some. Good for ages 2-5.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
A Kiss Goodbye
Audrey Penn
Part of the “Kissing Hand” series. Chester Raccoon has to move to a new tree with his mother and little brother, Ronnie. Very sweet, but mitigated by Chester’s occasional low-level sass. Good for ages 3-6.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
Lenny & Lucy
Philip C. Stead
Written and illustrated by the same author and illustrator of A Sick Day for Amos McGee. Especially good for dealing with fear and anxiety about new places because the main character is scared of the woods that surround his new home, and he finds a creative way to combat that fear. Good for ages 4-7.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
My Very Exciting, Sorta Scary, Big Move
Lori Attanasio Woodring, PhD.
Now, this book is especially interesting because it’s an activity book for moving. This is great because it gets the child excited about the move and involved—remember, kids often see moving as something inflicted on them, something done to them by others that they have no say in and no power to stop. This makes them active participants in the move, and it helps them get closure about leaving their old home. Good for ages 5-11.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
Alexander, Who’s Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move
Judith Viorst
Look, it’s an Alexander book (as in Alexander of terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day-fame); do I really need to say much else? It’ll be great for kids who need to vent their negative emotions about moving, because those emotions are legitimate and have the right to exist and be heard, too. And Alexander’s complaining, as usual, gives kids a dose of perspective. Good for ages 5-8.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
One Green Apple
Eve Bunting
This is both a “new kid in school” book and an “immigrant experience” book, though each theme really deserves its own top 10 list . Farah is an immigrant from an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, and it is her second day at school. She does not speak English fluently yet, and many other things are strange to her in this new country, but she finds there are some things that are still the same, and even some different things that aren’t bad. It is a picture book, but one for older children. Encouraging, sensitive, and sporting beautiful illustrations. Good for ages 6-9.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
Amber Brown is Not a Crayon
Paula Danziger
This is actually the first book in the “Amber Brown” series, so if your kids enjoy this book, there’s plenty more about this character. Amber Brown’s best friend Justin is moving away, and it puts a strain on their friendship. This book is useful for when someone else moves away and your child misses them or worries about never seeing them again. Good for ages 7-10.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
The Kid in the Red Jacket
Barbara Park
This one, I really like. Written by the author of the Junie B. Jones series, this book is for an older audience. Howard, a usually good kid , is very resentful about his family’s recent move, and it is making him act out. He’s having a rough time of it, and his own behavior isn’t helping matters. It’s important that our protagonist in this novel is not always a model of well-adjustment and aplomb because it shows readers how not to act. They might look at his mistakes and go “Oh, behaving like this character even if I feel like this character might not be a good idea.” The best thing fiction does is hold up a mirror to ourselves and our reality. Plus, it’s a pretty funny book. Good for ages 8-12.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
Anastasia Again
Lois Lowry
12-year-old Anastasia Krupnik has been sentenced to a fate worse than death: moving to the suburbs! While a bit dated (it was written in 1981, when the idea of a dad letting his 12-year-old sip the foam off his beer was considered acceptable), there is still a lot of humor and heart to the book, and Anastasia is quite the memorable character (she should be, she’s the star of a whole book series). Good for ages 9-12.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Marisha Pessl
I love this book, but it comes with several warnings:
It was written for adults and is not appropriate for people under the age of 15.
This book is a challenging read on a lot of levels, so for mature and advanced teen readers only.
The teen characters don’t always make the ideal decisions.
Marisha Pessl is not afraid to hurt her readers, so if you’re looking for a light and fluffy feel-good read, this isn’t it.
That said, it is an amazing book with an incredibly unique protagonist. Bona fide genius teen Blue Van Meer has spent her whole life moving around with her brilliant wandering professor father, so she’s never had the chance to build social skills. This means we, the readers who read/hear her narration, know how charming and witty she is, but no one else does. There’s some romance, some family drama, some high school drama, a really great murder mystery, a couple gut-punching twists, and it’s especially good for the kid who’s had to move too much.
Find it at your local indie bookstore.
Regina Teltser is an educator in New Jersey with expertise in children’s literature. She has a double MA in English Education and Theater Education from Steinhardt (NYU), and has worked for the Bank Street Bookstore in NYC. She is also a giant nerd who loves to read and discuss
children’s literature.
This post includes affiliate links. Explorable Places may earn a small commission on things purchased through those links.