How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby
- Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers, May 25th 2021
- Genre: Middle Grade
- Format: Hardcover (eARC)
- Page Count: 288 pages
- My Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.
It’s a space-themed MG book, so of course I loved it. 🚀🪐☄️
Pluto Timoney (12) loves astronomy because her mom loves it. But she misses the last month of her seventh grade after being diagnosed with depression and anxiety and Pluto wonders if she’ll ever be the same again. Or would she be like Pluto the planet becoming a non-planet?
Remember the Challenger disaster in 1986? I wasn’t born then, but I still remember the first time I read about it and that one of the seven astronauts was a high school teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who comes up a lot in this book, and it hurt to think of how everything was gone in a split second.
I relate so much to the space stuff. Did you have glowing stars on your bedroom wall when you were a kid? I did. Were you obsessed with black holes in middle school? I was (I was also terrified of the idea that a black hole would come too close to Earth and we’d all disappear). Did you wonder why Pluto was a planet and suddenly it wasn’t anymore? Yes (it happened in 2006). And seeing Pluto thinking about everything through space analogies is so refreshing. She is struggling to understand her own feelings, her thoughts, why she sleeps all the time, and she finds herself parallel to space stuff.
But the story isn’t really about Pluto and her space knowledge. It’s about Pluto understanding that it’s okay to not feel the same, it’s okay to not being able to do things like getting up or going to birthday parties or enjoying a trip to the planetarium. It is also about Pluto’s friends and family trying to understand her.
Pluto has a list she wants to accomplish to avoid getting send to live with her dad. Fallon Zamprogna, who works at her family shop down the road of Timoney’s pizzeria, also has a list of her own. Them striking up a friendship is the sweetest thing ever. I love that both Pluto and Fallon are figuring things out in their own ways and that they don’t magically know who they are at twelve or thirteen. They are growing and learning and it’s okay, too.
It’s so important for middle schoolers to know about depression and anxiety. The way How to Become a Planet was written makes it easy to understand, even though neither is a simple topic. We see Pluto’s spiraling thoughts, her overthinking, her wanting to stop and just sleep and get sucked into a black hole. The narrative is so real that it leaves my mind reeling sometimes. And it’s not just for young readers either. We see Pluto’s mom trying, too. Everyone in this book has such a beautiful soul. They’re real people who mess up sometimes, do impulsive things, but they are trying. They try to understand, to learn, to love. There are queer kids and queer adults, too, and I absolutely love that they’re just there.
By the time I reached the end of the book, I feel so proud of Pluto. I love that she is taking one step at a time, navigating family relationships, friendships, etc. Depression and anxiety don’t just go away. There are good days and bad days and Pluto knows that it’s okay, too. How to Become a Planet is heavy, sad, and full of joy all at the same time, and whether you want an MG book about mental health, or a somewhat space-related story, this is a must-read.
content warnings: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, medication, blood
I received a digital review copy from Algonquin Young Readers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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