Moving Day – for the House!

Lynn: I loved this interesting and inviting picture book about a very unusual subject – physically moving a house! Teri Roche Drobnick’s debut picture book, Moving Day (Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House, 2025), is based on a true event—moving the Englander House in San Francisco to a new location 6 blocks away. The practice was common in the early 1900’s and later.  My best friend in childhood had a father whose business moved all sorts of buildings and I remember watching some of those. Few children today, however, ever witness such an effort and this book adds to the fun by making the house itself the narrator. Readers hold their breath as the house tells of teetering and tottering and even walloping a light post before settling into its new home.

Jennifer Black Reinhardt’s watercolor and ink illustrations are comedic and charming, adding whimsical details like feet to the house and its own colorful carpet bag luggage. The perspectives are wonderfully designed to add interest including a two-page spread featuring a long long hill with the top of the house just peeking over the summit.

Backmatter includes an Author’s Note with additional information and a photograph of the Englander House being moved. Don’t miss the end pages either as they are peppered with colorful sketches of crazy house all with feet.

This will make a great read-aloud as well as a discussion starter for conversation about moving and all the emotions surrounding that experience.