Simple text and expressive watercolor illustrations convey a broad range of emotions of a small boy as he experiences his family’s cross-country move. On the rainy moving day, the boy grumbles “Bad truck / Bad guy.” Loaded in the car and driving away from friends, he wails “Bad wave / Bad bye.” Illustrations showing cloverleaf exits, water towers, windmills, and diners are accompanied by simple descriptive text such as “Stuffed car / Hot seat / Gray clouds / Gold wheat.” These capture the weariness of traveling through cities and countryside. With a combination of eagerness and trepidation, the boy eventually explores his “New house / New hall / New room / New wall.” The hopefulness brightens at story’s end with the boy’s “good bye” wave to a new friend. (Ages 3–7)

“Bad truck, bad guy; bad wave, bad bye . . .” A boy and his family are packing up their old home, and the morning feels scary and sad. But when he arrives at his new home, an evening of good byes awaits: bye to new friends, bye to glowing fireflies, bye to climbing trees. The New York Times bestselling author Deborah Underwood's spare text and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner Jonathan Bean's lush, layered illustrations perfectly capture the complex emotions of moving day. The child-centric transition from dreary morning to cheerful evening comforts young readers facing big changes of their own.