EVERYTHING'S CHANGED

A 10-year-old girl copes with a family move as well as challenges with both new and old friends in this third book about Celie Valentine.

Celie Valentine Altman’s family moves from Brooklyn to Manhattan in order to allow Celie’s grandmother, who is becoming increasingly confused as she ages, to live with them, along with a live-in nurse. Although the new place is only about an hour by subway away from their previous home, Celie is forced to adjust quickly to life without sharing a room with her sister as well as to a new school and new friends. Via first-person diary entries on ruled paper, spy notes, and sketches made over the course of just 10 days, readers get to follow along with Celie’s moral dilemmas: should she go along with the pushy Mary Majors, who seems to invite trouble wherever she goes? Should she continue to pry into her sister’s boyfriend challenges against her sister’s wishes? Can she be friends with both Mary and Charlie? Shouldn’t she tell her parents when plans change or something is unsafe? When her decisions culminate in a minor disaster, Celie is grateful that her loving parents and grandmother can help her balance her world again. Celie and her family are white, as are Mary Majors and Charlie; her doodles reveal an awareness of New York’s cultural mix.

An urban story that explores the universal themes of integrity, trust, and respect in relationships.