Book Descriptions
for How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
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. (Ages 9-12)
CCBC Choices 2022. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2022. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
A Publishers Weekly Best Middle Grade Book of 2021
One of The Nerd Daily's “Anticipated Queer Book Releases You Can’t Miss in 2021”
One of Lambda Literary's “May’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ Literature”
“Gorgeous.” —BuzzFeed
The two most important things to know about Pluto Timoney: (1) she’s always loved outer space (obviously); and (2) her favorite season is summer, the time to go to the boardwalk, visit the planetarium, and work in her mom’s pizzeria.
This summer, when Pluto’s turning thirteen, is different. Pluto has just been diagnosed with depression, and she feels like a black hole is sitting on her chest, making it hard to do anything. When Pluto’s dad threatens to make her move to the city—where he believes his money could help her get better—Pluto comes up with a plan to do whatever it takes to be her old self again. If she does everything that old, “normal” Pluto would do, she can stay with her mom. But it takes a new therapist, new tutor, and new (cute) friend with a plan of her own for Pluto to see that there is no old or new her. There’s just Pluto, discovering more about herself every day.
One of The Nerd Daily's “Anticipated Queer Book Releases You Can’t Miss in 2021”
One of Lambda Literary's “May’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ Literature”
“Gorgeous.” —BuzzFeed
The two most important things to know about Pluto Timoney: (1) she’s always loved outer space (obviously); and (2) her favorite season is summer, the time to go to the boardwalk, visit the planetarium, and work in her mom’s pizzeria.
This summer, when Pluto’s turning thirteen, is different. Pluto has just been diagnosed with depression, and she feels like a black hole is sitting on her chest, making it hard to do anything. When Pluto’s dad threatens to make her move to the city—where he believes his money could help her get better—Pluto comes up with a plan to do whatever it takes to be her old self again. If she does everything that old, “normal” Pluto would do, she can stay with her mom. But it takes a new therapist, new tutor, and new (cute) friend with a plan of her own for Pluto to see that there is no old or new her. There’s just Pluto, discovering more about herself every day.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.
