How to Become a Planet
Pluto, who is white, loves astronomy, missed the last month of seventh grade due to major depression and anxiety. This summer she’s under constant supervision as she’s towed to and from her mom’s pizzeria. Her dad wants her to move in with him in New York City, but Pluto just wants everything to go back to normal. She has a checklist of tasks that, if completed, will prove she can be her old self again: attend her best friend’s birthday party, start therapy, meet with a tutor, and visit the planetarium for her birthday. She befriends and then starts crushing on Fallon, also white, whose own summer goals include cutting her hair and convincing her mom to let her wear a suit, rather than a dress, to her brother’s wedding. But Pluto’s road to recovery is anything but straight. She’s frustrated and angry and doesn’t feel like herself. And her mom, who is trying so hard, doesn’t always get things right. Notably, Pluto experiences no sudden or magical cure in this heartrending story; rather, she realizes she must learn how to manage and cope with her mental illness, while her mother and friends begin to learn how best to support her. ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 9-12
Age Range:
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Anxiety
Depression
Families
Feelings/Emotions
Friendship
Gender Identity
LGBTQ+ Persons
Space/Astronomy
Diversity subject:
LGBTQ Character/Topic
Psychiatric Disability/Condition
Publisher:
Algonquin
Publish Year: 2021
Pages: 278
ISBN: 9781643750361
CCBC Location: Fiction, Melleby