“Almost everything we own is spread out in our front yard. It is all for sale. We are moving to a small apartment.” A young girl’s parents have put a positive spin on their new place, with its “fun” bed in the living room that folds down from the wall, but she’s uncertain, especially as she sees strangers buy many of their belongings. When a man loads her bike into the back of his truck, she gets angry and tries to pull it back. Her dad reminds her there’s no place to ride at their new place (“I think his eyes are all teary”). Then a woman jokingly asks if the girl is for sale. “A shiver runs through me, from my toes to my head.” Her parents tell her they’d never sell her, “not for a million, trillion dollars. Not ever, ever, ever.” A child-centered narrative with small, believable, heartbreaking details and big emotional punch ends with the girl feeling reassured. The comforting illustrations ease the telling of a welcome story conveying a difficult reality. (Ages 4–7)

When a family has to leave their house and move to a small apartment, it’s hard to let go of things—but having one another is what counts.

Almost everything Callie’s family owns is spread out in their front yard—their furniture, their potted flowers, even Callie’s bike. They can’t stay in this house, so they’re moving to an apartment in the city. The new place is "small but nice," Mom says, and most of their things won’t fit, so today they are having a yard sale. But it’s kind of hard to watch people buy your stuff, even if you understand why it has to happen. With sensitivity and grace, Eve Bunting and Lauren Castillo portray an event at once familiar and difficult, making clear that a home isn’t about what you have, but whom you hold close.