My Life in Dioramas

Gr 4–6—Kate lives in New York's Hudson Valley with her parents in a house full of quirky character and warm memories. The house is known to everyone around town as Big Red. When her parents, under financial duress, put Big Red on the market, Kate tries to sabotage the realtor's open houses in hopes of being able to stay there. Meanwhile, she starts making dioramas of the house's rooms, as a way of ensuring she can hold onto these meaningful spaces. Bonaddio's black-and-white drawings depict many of these dioramas. Altebrando aptly captures the essence of being 12 years old: fraught friendships, confusing feelings (is this what a crush feels like or not?), and glimmers of so much more on the horizon. Kate's voice is honest and authentic, as she toes the line between needy kid and independent young adult. While Kate's relationships with her two best friends, Stella and Naveen, are a bit too thinly developed, her relationship with her parents is nuanced and three-dimensional, as is the relationship between her mom and dad, as seen through Kate's eyes. Many readers will relate to the girl's initial resistance to moving, to her gradual acceptance of it, and to her ultimate conclusion that "Change is hard. Until it's not."