''Moving Day'' is a

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

book of poetry by Ralph Fletcher, illustrated by Jennifer Emery. It was first published in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Summary

Thirty-four short

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...

poems that express the feelings of a twelve-year-old boy moving from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. Some of the topics include packing, the discovery of long-lost treasures, giving things away, and doing things one last time.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

said "The poet leaves pretension at the moving-van door and gives readers a real feel for the evocative emotions of a regular kid--and that regular kid was Fletcher himself. Emery's accompanying watercolor illustrations are like flashes of family history viewed through hand-swiped frost on windows of memory. They are simple, but they speak volumes. A fine collection." Mary Jean Smith in her review for

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

said that "like shards of glass, Emery's pencil drawings with their watercolor washes mirror the loss and longing in these poems." and she describes the book as "excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre" Sylvia M. Vardell in her book ''Poetry People'' said that "the poems are loosely connected one to another to reveal the grieving process of separating from the familiar and slowly establishing new roots in a new place." and that "this collection is a reassuring voice for children who are dealing with one of life's most challenging transitions."

Notes

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External links

Ralph Fletcher's websiteJennifer Emery's website
2006 poetry books American poetry collections 2006 children's books Young adult poetry books