She’s leaving home

<b>She’s leaving home</b> Diane loves everything about her house the white shutters, the maple tree out front and, most importantly, the fact that her best friend, Rose, can ride her bike over. But what is Diane supposed to do when her parents tell her they’re moving? Diane’s dad has lost his job, and Grandpa Joe wants the family to move in with him. Of course, Diane doesn’t understand why her dad lost his job or what that has to do with her beloved house. She is just plain confused and sad, and she releases her emotions in her diary. In lyrical and bittersweet entries, she expresses her fears of moving and reminisces about some of her favorite times. Describing her last night in her old house, she writes, I’m lying in Dad’s old sleeping bag . . . tears spill like crying stars from my eyes. In this poignant children’s book, author Eileen Spinelli offers a unique way of conveying a young girl’s struggle with leaving the home and the life she loves. Diane is, quite frankly, a marvelous kid, a spunky girl who loves astronomy and writing poetry. Unfortunately, the idea of moving shatters her confidence. She imagines she can’t be herself in a new place. Happily, soon after the move, she discovers that this isn’t so. She learns that she can study the night sky anywhere and that her new neighborhood has the potential to inspire great poems. Most importantly, she realizes she has found a new friend, who knows more about stars than she does and who loves reading poetry. She just has to get over the fact that he’s a boy! <i>Andrea Hinds is a writer and preschool teacher in Nashville.</i>