Booklists

From the May 18, 2008 Pigeon Post essay of the same name.

For the very young there are some picture books that outline the events of a move and acknowledge the fact that it can be an upsetting change, but that there are good things that come with it as well. The emphasis on the positive is critical. In trying to acknowledge the negative some books tend to dwell over much on the downside. For our first big move we used Stan and Jan Berenstain Bear's series, one of which is The Berenstain Bears and Moving Day which I think strikes just the right balance of acknowledgement while staying positive. For older children there are stories which are not so much written to prepare them for a move but are about a move happening to the protagonist. I have in mind here Patricia MacLaclan's eloquently moving What You Know First, a beautiful picture book story. Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books are also great stories of a peripatetic life. You read them for the story but it just so happens that there is an awful lot of moving and adjusting to a new life that goes on in them.

What are the stories you would recommend to prepare a child for a move?

This book list is divided into three sections:
(1) Picture Books
(2) Books for Independent Readers
(3) Books for Young Adults

The list begins below with Picture Books, but you can use one of the following links to skip directly to either of the other two sections.
Go to books for Independent Readers
Go to books for Young Adults


Picture Books

The Berenstain Bears' Moving Day by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain Recommended

Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss Suggested

I Like Where I Am by Jessica Harper and illustratde by Brian G. Karas Suggested

What You Know First by Patricia MacLachlan and illustratd by Barry Moser Highly Recommended

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and illustrated by David Small Highly Recommended

Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Robin Preiss-Glasser Suggested

Ira Says Goodbye by Bernard Waber Suggested

House on East Eighty-Eighth Street by Bernard Waber Highly Recommended

Independent Reader

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer Suggested

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan Recommended

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery and illustrated by Sybil Tawse & M. A. Claus Highly Recommended

The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit and illustrated by C. E. Brock Highly Recommended

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith Highly Recommended

Heidi by Johanna Spyri and illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith Highly Recommended

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder and illustrated by Garth Williams Highly Recommended

Young Adult

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Recommended