MIA MOVES OUT

Mia makes a move when sharing space overwhelms her.

The opening text indicates that Mia is an adoptee: “When Mia moved in, Mom and Dad had a room ready for her.” She makes the room her own, but then she must adjust to sharing it when a baby comes home. While Mom shares redheaded, pale-skinned Mia’s coloring, baby Brandon looks more like Dad, with olive skin and black, straight hair. The text merely says he “arrived,” which leaves open the possibility that he was adopted, too. At first, room-sharing is fun, but their room becomes increasingly messy. A climactic illustration depicts clutter and chaos overtaking a central spread, and Mia’s frustrated declaration “I’m moving out!” appears in oversized, red type. Mia’s move occurs within the house—first to the bathroom, then the basement, then the pantry, and so on. Each new space is unsuitable for some humorous reason. A nook fashioned of a blanket overhanging a bookcase seems ideal until Mia decides “it needed something.” Brandon is that something, and together they create a big, open play-space outside. Never do they solve the indoor clutter problem, to which they’ll presumably return, but this narrative gap recedes behind the pleasure of seeing adoptee characters confidently negotiating a sense of home and belonging.

Move this picture book onto the shelf.