Author: Ralph Fletcher
Illustrator: Jennifer Emery
Genre: Poetry Collection / Fiction Narrative in Verse
Prime Audiences: Children Experiencing a Move
Publisher: Wordsong
Publication Year: 2006
When you're twelve years old and have a group of friends and a home you've known all of your life, the words "We're going to move to Ohio" are devastating to Fletch, and not even a new Diamondback mountain bike can change his mood in that moment. But moving day finally arrives, and his family's new home and their new neighbors will become a part of his life just like his old home and friends back in Massachusetts.
Moving Day is a collection of Ralph Fletcher's poems that chronicles the move of Fletch and his family from Massachusetts to Ohio. Written in first person point of view and in free verse form, the majority of the poems are about the leadup to the move and the move itself; the collection ends with the first few days of Fletch acclimating to his new home. Many of the poems are accompanied by an illustration by Jennifer Emery, matching the events in the poem. Fletch's tone leading up to the move is somber, of course, but the final poems have an accepting and hopeful tone.
Children (and parents and grandparents) who are in the midst of a move will enjoy the honesty of the poems and will be encouraged by Fletch's acclimation to his new home at the end.
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