Change of Place! Percy's Museum by Sara O'Leary

PERCY'S OLD HOUSE WAS PERFECT.

THERE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO AND ALWAYS SOMEONE TO DO IT WITH.

Percy lives on a city street of tall houses, close together. Outside the sidewalks are busy with people and kids of all ages, playing, riding scooters and bikes, shopping, walking babies and dogs, all going somewhere, or watching people going places from their windows. But then, one day, Percy doesn't live there anymore.

He moves to the country, where his house sits alone by a pond--and so does Percy, and so does his cat.

HIS NEW HOUSE ISN'T THE SAME.

But there's a quite small house at the end of the yard, just his size, that looks interesting, and there are bees visiting flowers and birds soaring above. Rows of ants from somewhere are busy going someplace, and there are rocks and leaves with interesting shapes that Percy cannot resist drawing. And there are trees to climb, where his little cat shows the way.

TREES LET YOU SEE THE WORLD THE WAY A GIANT WOULD.

In the daytime there are caterpillars changing to cocoons and then to butterflies and birds' eggs hatching into birds, their parents busy bringing them worms. And at night there are stars and owls and racoons, all busy moving here and there and doing things, and Percy learns that...

YOU CAN BE ALONE WITHOUT BEING LONELY.

Percy fills the little house with his drawings and paintings and collections of rocks and cones and seedpods and flowers... and puts up a sign that says PERCY'S MUSEUM on the mailbox by the road, with balloons bouncing in the breeze and a table with glasses and a tall pitcher.

And the little girl with the dog who has been watching him all along brings some friends along to see his museum.

Home is where you make it, as Percy learns in Sara O'Leary's quiet story of coming home wherever you are, Percy's Museum (Groundwood Books, 2021). With Carmen Mok's soft faux naif illustrations and a cozy little cat who sticks with Percy, this story of a big move is a reassuring read for children who are lonely or undergoing a big household move that changes their lives.