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Summary
Summary
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.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Opening on a yard full of items for sale, this picture book tackles the difficult discussion of transitioning to a smaller home or apartment. Callie, whose family is having the sale, watches as people slowly pick their way and prod through her family's items and memories. A particular heart-wrenching moment comes as a woman offers five dollars instead of 10 for a headboard because it is covered in crayon marks. Callie reflects, "I wish I hadn't put the crayon marks on there. They were to show how many times I had read Goodnight Moon." Several other small heartbreaks occur for Callie. Her bicycle is sold, she must explain to her best friend why she's leaving ("I don't know. It's something to do with money"), and she has to endure a well-intentioned woman asking, "Are you for sale?" While the topic is an extremely tough one, Bunting tackles it with her usual grace and poise. The clear and concise writing is a wonderful choice for the subject matter. The soft ink and watercolor illustrations with thick black lines portray the text excellently and without unnecessary additions. While the topic of moving is covered in a multitude of picture books, this one looks at it from a difficult perspective that most authors choose to avoid or gloss over. A vital purchase for collections everywhere.-Brooke Newberry, La Crosse Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Bunting (Washday) imagines a girl in a polka-dotted pullover watching as strangers at her family's yard sale haggle over furniture that was hers. Her family is about to move from a house into a small apartment: "It's something to do with money," she confides. She's jolted when a man with a beard loads her bicycle onto his truck. "We told you, sweetie," her father explains. "We have no place to keep it." Bunting handles these scenes with sensitivity, making deep emotions plain. When a woman makes a joke at the end of a long day ("Aren't you just the cutest thing?... Are you for sale?") the girl is undone. "You wouldn't sell me, would you?" she asks her parents, crying hard. "Not for a million, trillion dollars," her father assures her. Castillo's (Nana in the City) gentle scenes soften the family's sadness. And while the conclusion is a shade optimistic ("We don't really need anything we've sold"), Bunting captures the way loss can take a family's possessions while leaving their love for each other intact. Ages 3-7. Illustrator's agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In this straightforward, heartfelt story, hard economic times mean that Callie and her parents must move from their house into a small apartment. "Small but nice," Callie's mother tells her. The family must sell many of its things to prepare for the move (hence the yard sale of the title), and Callie is bereft as she watches furniture and other items leave in strangers' hands. A neighborhood friend tries to comfort her, but their conversation is punctuated by instances of loss as more of Callie's things are carried away. Then a well-intentioned but misguided older woman says, "Aren't you just the cutest thing?...Are you for sale?" and this proves to be too much for Callie to handle. She bursts into tears, and her parents immediately reassure her that they would never sell her. "Not for a million, trillion dollarsNot ever, ever, ever." This is a turning point for Callie, who ends up embracing the idea that the important things in life aren't things and that as long as they have one another, they will be okay in their new apartment. Castillo's ink and watercolor illustrations employ soft line and warm colors to depict the story's scenes, and they expertly zoom in and out to provide broad perspective on the yard sale and close-ups of tender moments between Callie and her parents. megan dowd lambert (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
When her parents hold a yard sale to downsize prior to moving, Callie experiences mixed emotions until she realizes she still has what's most important.Callie and her parents are moving from a house to a "[s]mall but nice" apartment. Shocked to see "[a]lmost everything" they own for sale in their front yard, Callie watches people sorting through their possessions and asking prices. She's chagrined about crayon marks on her bed's headboard that lower the price and angry as a man loads her bike into his truck. When her best friend, Sara, asks why they're moving, Callie says it has "something to do with money." Callie hates "people buying our stuff," and she's horrified when a woman jokingly asks if she is for sale. Reassured by her parents and back in their "almost empty house," Callie realizes they "don't really need anything they sold," and she and her parents will "fit" into their new placeand that's what matters. Callie's first-person observations reveal her distress, while poignant watercolor-and-ink illustrations reinforce her emotions through deft use of white space, color washes and strong outlines that capture postures and facial expressions. Images of forlorn Callie surrounded by a yard full of possessions, sad Callie hugging Sara, distraught Callie grabbing her bike and Callie's parents comforting her visually tug the heart. A simple, moving tale of a family in transition. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A young girl is bewildered by the activity in her front yard. Most of her family's belongings are being sold, and they will soon be moving from their house into a small but nice apartment in the city. Angered and upset when a man begins to take her bicycle, Callie listens as her father gently reminds her that there's no room in their new home to store a bike and no safe place to ride it on the busy street to which they're moving. The youngster vaguely understands that leaving her familiar surroundings has something to do with money, but she finds it difficult to fully comprehend and to watch strangers buying their household items. Sturdy ink-and-watercolor illustrations reveal the neat tree-lined street the family is leaving and the dismay Callie displays at the upheaval in her world. At the end of the day, the girl is comforted knowing that, even though their home will be different, her close-knit family will remain the same. The story's focus on having to move due to reduced circumstances is a welcome addition to books about contemporary problems.--Owen, Maryann Copyright 2015 Booklist