Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away: The Book (and What to Read Next)

Here is the honest version from someone who has not lived a full family move but who does remember, at six, that the little moves (between houses, between weeks, between the version of my week at Mom's and the version at Dad's) had the same shape as the bigger goodbyes friends were having. If your child's best friend is moving, or your own family is packing boxes, this piece is the shelf. I built FableFleet to give your child a story that meets them where they are, and while our current library does not have a dedicated Moving story template yet, a warm two-homes story plus a warm book like this one is a strong combination for the "my world is changing shape" moment. The rest of this walks the book and the wider shelf.

What Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away is about

Meg Medina's Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away tells the story of Daniela and her best friend Evelyn on the day Evelyn moves out of her apartment on the second floor. They spend one last afternoon together. They play in Evelyn's mostly-empty rooms. They eat frozen yogurt on the stoop. They promise to stay best friends. Then Evelyn's family drives away.

Sonia Sanchez's illustrations do a lot of the emotional work. There is warm light on the pages of the last afternoon. There is a quieter light on the pages of the goodbye. The book does not try to hide that this is hard, and it does not try to fix it either. What it does is let both girls be brave and sad at the same time, and let the friendship be bigger than the day.

Candlewick's publisher page recommends ages 4 to 8. It received a Kirkus starred review and appeared on multiple 2020 best-picture-books lists. It has been on library shelves and in classroom read-alouds for years now precisely because it is one of the few picture books on this topic that trusts the child to hold the whole feeling.

Who Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away is best for (ages 4 to 8)

The 4 to 8 range covers a wide developmental band, and the book works differently at different ages.

At 4 and 5, the book is mostly an emotional beat. The child understands that two friends are saying goodbye. The specific reasons for the move do not matter much; what matters is the warmth of the last afternoon and the calm of the goodbye. Read it to them; do not expect long conversation after.

At 6 and 7 (the age I care most about in this cluster), the book starts to become a mirror. Kids at this age know that friends sometimes move. They may have friends who have moved, or a friend who is about to. The book lets them hold that reality with warmth. This is when a child may want to return to the book more than once; let them.

At 8, the book is a full experience. An eight-year-old can hold the goodbye, the friendship, and the promise to stay in touch as three separate things and understand how they weave together. This is the age at which the book can become a longer conversation, if the child wants one.

Sesame Workshop's guidance on how books help kids process big changes applies here even though the topic is not divorce specifically: the character on the page is the doorway for the child to hold their own feeling.

How to read Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away with a child whose friend is moving

Read it at a low-stakes moment. Not on the actual moving day. Not in the car on the way to say goodbye. A quiet afternoon a week or two before, or the day after. KidsHealth (Nemours) is direct that kids need time to sit with big feelings, not to have them scheduled on top of a hard moment.

Read it more than once. The first read is emotional; the second and third reads let the child notice the small warmth in the pictures, the details of the friendship, the promise at the end. Kids often want to return to a book that has captured something they are working through.

Let them lead. If they want to talk about it, be ready. If they want to close the book and eat a snack, that is fine too. The book has done its work either way.

Do not over-narrate. Let the illustrations speak. Sonia Sanchez's pictures are doing a great deal of the work; you do not need to add commentary. Just be there.

If your child asks a question that goes past the book (are we moving? is my friend coming back? will I make new friends?), answer honestly and warmly. Do not use the book to sneak in a hidden lesson. Let the book be the book.

What to do after the book, when the moving day actually arrives

The book is one thing. The moving day is another. Here is the short practical playbook the moms I have asked have used when a child's friend is moving.

Print a picture of the two children together and put it on the wall of the child's room. Not on the fridge (fridges get busy); on a wall where they can see it from their bed. It is a small anchor.

Set up a way to stay in touch that the child can control. A video call time (weekly, the same day, so it is predictable). A shared drawing folder. A postcard exchange. Kids do better with a rhythm they can rely on than with an open-ended "you can talk anytime."

Give a small keepsake. A friendship bracelet, a shared stuffed animal (each keeps one of a pair), a small drawing. Not expensive. The point is a thing that says the friendship is real and did not end when the truck pulled away.

Give permission to be sad AND excited about a new friend. AACAP's broader guidance on children and change is that kids often feel two things at once and need help hearing that both feelings are okay. Your child may miss their friend and also be curious about the new kid in their friend's old spot at school. Both can be true. Do not shame either feeling.

Do not force closure. Some kids will process the goodbye in a week. Some will still be talking about it in three months. Both are normal.

Other picture books about moving and friends moving away

Alongside Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away, the shelf has a few titles worth considering.

The Berenstain Bears' Moving Day by Stan and Jan Berenstain (Random House, 1981). For the family that is moving, not for the friend who is being left behind. Handles the practical shape of a move (packing, saying goodbye, meeting new neighbors) in the familiar Berenstain style.

Boomer's Big Day by Constance W. McGeorge, illustrated by Mary Whyte (Chronicle Books, 1994). For the very young child. A gentle picture book about a dog helping his family move to a new house.

A Kiss Goodbye by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Barbara Leonard Gibson (Tanglewood, 2007). From the author of The Kissing Hand. The reassurance beat: I love you, even when we are apart. Especially useful when the move is happening in the child's own family.

Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Ray Cruz (Aladdin, 1995). For the child who is angry about moving. Alexander's stubborn refusal to move is played for gentle humor while also honoring the underneath feeling.

If your child's world-changing moment is not a move but a family shape change, our picture books about divorce piece walks that shelf. For the pillar on how two homes actually works for a young child, our pillar is the anchor.

Where a personalized story fits when your child's world is changing shape

I want to name what FableFleet does honestly, and be careful not to over-promise for a specific moving story we do not yet have.

FableFleet makes personalized animated story videos, video-only, made just for your child. We do not currently have a dedicated Moving story template in the library; our closest template is Having Two Homes, which handles the "child moves between two places" shape. For a child whose best friend is moving, or whose family is moving, the honest offer today is: a warm personalized story about your child, in a shape close to their current shape, that gives them a rehearsal beat and a keepsake. It is not the moving-specific story we would build for them if we had that template. It is a story where they are the star, treated warmly, in a shape their world is holding.

As our library grows, we will add a Moving story template that speaks directly to the family-moving moment. Until then, the two-homes story is the closest fit, plus the book above and the practical playbook. That is the honest current shelf.