Mia Moves Out

August 15, 2018
Mia makes a move when sharing space overwhelms her.The opening text indicates that Mia is an adoptee: "When Mia moved in, Mom and Dad had a room ready for her." She makes the room her own, but then she must adjust to sharing it when a baby comes home. While Mom shares redheaded, pale-skinned Mia's coloring, baby Brandon looks more like Dad, with olive skin and black, straight hair. The text merely says he "arrived," which leaves open the possibility that he was adopted, too. At first, room-sharing is fun, but their room becomes increasingly messy. A climactic illustration depicts clutter and chaos overtaking a central spread, and Mia's frustrated declaration "I'm moving out!" appears in oversized, red type. Mia's move occurs within the house--first to the bathroom, then the basement, then the pantry, and so on. Each new space is unsuitable for some humorous reason. A nook fashioned of a blanket overhanging a bookcase seems ideal until Mia decides "it needed something." Brandon is that something, and together they create a big, open play-space outside. Never do they solve the indoor clutter problem, to which they'll presumably return, but this narrative gap recedes behind the pleasure of seeing adoptee characters confidently negotiating a sense of home and belonging. Move this picture book onto the shelf. (Picture book. 3-6)

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October 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 1-When little Mia moves into her own room for the first time, she's delighted. She decorates it with "Something big. Something bright. Something fun." After her baby brother Brandon comes along, she doesn't mind sharing at first; but as Brandon grows, so does the mess in the room. Fed up, Mia declares that she's "Moving out!...Forever." As she searches for a replacement space, she tries out the bathroom, the basement, and finally the pantry, but none of these places prove satisfactory. Finding temporary refuge in a reading nook, she realizes that she misses her little brother. Together, they create a fun play space in the yard. Keiser's cartoonish line-drawing illustrations capture an array of emotions, from Mia's worried face when her brother arrives, to more humorous expressions of frustration in the cramped pantry and delight when creating the outdoor space. VERDICT Though the original issue of shared space is never truly resolved, the importance of sibling friendship shines through nevertheless.-Yelena Voysey, formerly at Pickering Educational Library, Boston University

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