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Reviewed by:
  • Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away by Meg Medina
  • Deborah Stevenson, Editor
Medina, Meg Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away; illus. by Sonia Sánchez. Candlewick,
2020 [32p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9781536207040 $17.99
Reviewed from digital galleys R* 5-8 yrs

Poor Daniela: Evelyn Del Rey, her "mejor amiga, my numero uno best friend," is moving away. Daniela pops next door for the last day of their usual hanging out (Evelyn has the room opposite Daniela's in nearly matching apartment buildings) and they cling to their favorite games. Eventually it's time to go, though, and despite promises to talk on the phone and have summer visits, they know "tomorrow everything will be different." This is a more intimate tribute to friendship than Doerrfeld's Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend! (BCCB 7/19), and Medina is right on target in her depiction of the way everyday actions ring with import ("We climb the steps two at a time, just like we always do") when you know it's the last time. While Mami is likely correct in saying Daniela will make new friends, the book sympathetically honors the fact that losing Evelyn is a legitimate sorrow and that this friendship will always be an important one. Sanchez' digital art has a colored pencil and mixed media flair, and she's particularly gifted in conveying human dynamics through poses as the brown-skinned girls sprawl on the floor or dart through the building together hand in hand. While a final scene shows a grown Daniela smiling over a box of Evelyn memorabilia, that's by no means papering over the sadness of the parting, with both girls obviously and understandably griefstricken. It's that honesty that makes this book truly useful: while life goes on when friends separate, adults as well as kids benefit from recognition that friends are essential and that it's valid to mourn the departure of your "numero uno best friend." [End Page 36]

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