Review: The List of Things That Will Not Change

The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful story about Bea, a girl whose parents divorce when her dad comes out. She makes a list of things that will not change which starts with the fact that both her parents will always love her. A couple of years down the road, her father and his boyfriend Jesse plan to marry. Bea loves Jesse (he gets added to her list!), his sister Sheila, who is Bea's babysitter, and she tries to forge a relationship with Jesse's reluctant daughter, Sonia. Sonia, who lives on the other side of the country, struggles to adjust to the changes in her family. Her mother is remarried and she has two little brothers. When she's with her mother, she misses her father Jesse and his life with Bea and her father and their dog Rocco. But when she is with them, she misses her mother. She envies what she perceives as Bea's easy time with all her changes, and the fact that her mother and father live in the same place. Bea's honest looks at her struggles with her life changes- two apartments, two beds, two different window views, feeling happy for her dad yet sad for her mom- make the novel quite poignant, at times.

Bea is just a wonderful character and her kind disposition is crucial in her building a bigger family that is full of love.

A beautiful middle-grade novel.


I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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