Title: How to Become a Planet
Author: Nicole Melleby
Genre: Fiction, children's
Pluto doesn’t feel like herself anymore. She doesn’t feel like getting out of bed in the morning and she has lost interest in one of her favorite things – astronomy. Pluto’s mom, who runs a pizzeria on the Jersey Shore boardwalk, chose Pluto’s name because she loves space. Pluto and her mom have gone to the planetarium since Pluto was a young child, but Pluto doesn’t want to go.
Pluto meets Fallon, whose family opened a new business nearby. She connects with Fallon because Fallon doesn’t know her as the girl who was diagnosed with depression who stopped going to school a month before the end of seventh grade.
Pluto makes a list of things she wants to do during the summer to make her feel like Pluto again. The list includes visiting the planetarium with her mom and attending her friend Meredith’s birthday party. Pluto also needs to study with a tutor to enter eighth grade in the fall. Fallon has a checklist as well and the two teens connect because of their lists. The book realistically covers mental health in a way that is natural, not overbearing, and Pluto is likeable so Pluto’s struggles keep the reader interested.
- Elizabeth
Check out How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby @ the library!
