12 August 2021 GOODBYE, OLD HOUSE by Margaret Wild and Ann James, ill., Blue Dot, September 2021, 32p., ISBN: 978-1-7362264-5

“There are places I’ll remember

All my life though some have changed”

-- Lennon & McCartney (1965)

“Our little tyrants ensure that we are quaking in our boots at the very thought of disrupting their daily routines, and moving to a new house is sure to do just that. The reason for the upset is in large part due to the change. Our babies are creatures of habit so the idea of leaving their rooms, their home, their friends behind and living in a new house is sure to wobble them to their very core. Moving house is stressful enough for us (fairly well adjusted and mature) adults so we can only imagine the strain it can put on the fragile little minds of our halflings.”

-- MummyConstant (2017)

“This is the last time I’ll sleep in this house.

Goodbye, kitchen.

Goodbye, bathroom.

Goodbye, living room.

Goodbye, big bedroom.

Goodbye, my bedroom.

Goodbye, old house. Goodbye”

At my age, there are plenty of places I remember. Once in a blue moon, during travels back to the East Coast, I’ll drive around to the three homes I shared with my parents over my first twenty-something years, along with the stately old brick-faced house my grandparents lived in, where I also spent many a glorious night.

A recent MacArthur Foundation study concluded that “Residential moves during early and middle childhood have long term effects on socio-emotional outcomes, suggesting that stability is particularly important early in life.”

There are a multitude of reasons why it nevertheless becomes necessary for parents to move their children to a new home. Fortunately, there are many excellent children’s books that focus on the challenges of being the new kid in town. The new kid in the classroom. But what about the actual transition from one physical residence to another?

GOODBYE, OLD HOUSE, an import from Down Under by beloved author Margaret Wild, is a lovely, sweet, picture book that will help prepare young kids for the possibility of moving. It also provides a framework for a wonderful ritual farewell in which children can consciously engage, as they swap a well-known space for a new, unknown environment.

The exuberant young character in GOODBYE, OLD HOUSE, drawn in black and white, is visually depicted with sufficient ambiguity as to be readily seen as either a young boy or a young girl. In the first half of the story, the child methodically bids farewell to the rooms in the house and to the special, meaningful spots in the neighborhood that have made this place home. 

Then, the second half of the book will get young children psyched about the infinite possibilities offered by a change of residence. 

“This is the first time 

I’ll climb up this tree.

This is the first time

I’ll look over this fence.”

Illustrator Ann James has created brush and ink drawings with acrylic gouache backgrounds that are combined digitally. I love the care put into the endpapers. In the front, the child is standing on the porch, situated next to packed and labeled moving boxes, gazing out. In the back, the child is sitting on the limb of that tree they’ve just climbed for the first time, peering through the twilight at another child who is inside a nearby dwelling. 

GOODBYE, OLD HOUSE, a simple-but-moving tale of transition and possibilities, is bibliotherapy at its best.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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