Homesick
Poppy can’t wait to sleep over at G-Pa and Mimi’s house for the first time ever. She’ll bake bread and gather pinecones and read all the books on their shelves. But Home? Home feels sick with missing her! Everything is hushed and empty without Poppy. Can Home find distractions to occupy the time until she comes back? And with all the fun she’s having, will Poppy start to miss Home, too? Co-authored by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Daniel Miyares, and published by Neal Porter Books/Holiday House in 2026.
★ “With grace and conviction, this empathic split narrative from Vernick and Garton Scanlon (coauthors of The Family Tree) and illustrator Miyares (Nell Plants a Tree) takes a feeling children carry in their bones—that a beloved object misses them when they’re away—and extends it to an entire building… an inventive, emotionally attuned meditation on attachment.” — Publishers Weekly
★ “This reassuring blend of Adam Rex and Christian Robinson’s School’s First Day of School (2016) and Janet Costa Bates and AG Ford’s Time for Bed, Old House (2021) perfectly evokes the push-pull emotions of a significant childhood milestone. Cozy and relatable—Home is definitely where the heart is.” — Kirkus
“This is a great book to pair with Bernard Waber’s Ira Sleeps Over to offer conversations about the complex emotions around sleeping over at someone else’s house for the first time. It would also be an excellent book to use with older readers to talk about the concept of personification. A first-choice picture book for any library.” – School Library Journal
“Poppy is at her first sleepover at Mimi and G-Pa’s house. She collects pinecones, helps bake bread, reads her mother’s old books by lantern-light in a tent, and feels the excitement of being away. But Home—the physical house where she lives with her family—misses Poppy. A comforting preparation-book for a first sleepover or a helpful conversation-starter afterward.” – Horn Book
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