Change can be a good thing. Pushing out of your comfort zone allows for boundless opportunities for growth, exposes you to life experiences that may have seemed alien otherwise, and just makes you more flexible as a person. Who wouldn’t want to embrace such positive outcomes? And yet, too much change can also come as a shock. Looking at a tumultuous 2020, sometimes there need to be a few positive constants to keep things smooth.
That rings doubly true for impressionable youth. Among the backdrop of the type of world we live in today, author Rebecca Stead provides a rock for troubling times through the eyes of ten-year-old Bea. In The List of Things That Will Not Change, things have been weird for Bea since her parents’ divorce. However, her dad’s announcement that he plans to marry his new boyfriend, Jesse, an enticing new family life awaits. Jesse, after all, will be bringing with him something that Bea has always wanted: a younger sister.
But juggling two families can be difficult. Bea envisions a perfect life with her new step-sister, Sonia. But she also holds feelings of guilt about leaving her Mom behind, and also contends with news that Jesse’s side of the family may not be as loving. While Bea’s positive approach might bely any ill-feelings as the wedding approaches, Stead expertly dives into her mental state with a light, and sometimes humorous, touch.
The inner workings of Bea’s mind unveil a plethora of concerns that may go unnoticed in young children. Her new life instills an anxiety in Bea that her optimism can’t shake off on its own, but Stead’s careful approach ensures a focused, unaggressive approach to the topic of mental illness. Despite everything, Bea is undaunted when trying to pull together the disparate threads of separate families.
Newbery-winner Stead has published four other middle-grade fiction books, and like them, The List of Things That Will Not Change doesn’t use any wasted words when unraveling the intricacies of Bea’s mind. As the world changes around us, Stead’s grounding constants in her latest novel ultimately provide the uplifting tonic that kids need.
Thank you to Cotton Tails, the place to find unique children's clothing and shoes, located in the Laurelwood Shopping Center, and Literacy Mid-South for sponsoring this children’s book review! Learn more about the various programs offered by Literacy Mid-South by visiting their site literacymidsouth.org and following them on Facebook and Instagram @literacymidsouth.