How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby; Algonquin Books for Young Readers, 288 pages ($16.95). Ages 9 to 12.

Nicole Melleby, author of "In the Role of Brie Hutchins," offers a sensitive, pitch-perfect portrayal of a girl battling depression and anxiety disorder the summer before 8th grade in this excellent novel for middle-grade readers.

Pluto Jean Timoney has felt "broken" since her diagnosis with depression (a diagnosis that came after her mother broke down her bedroom door). Pluto has lost touch with her best friend, Meredith, and has no interest in activities she formerly enjoyed including helping out at the family pizzeria on the Jersey shore or hanging out on the boardwalk.

Pluto shares her mom's keen interest in astronomy, an interest that might have bloomed into a career if her mom hadn't given birth to Pluto at the age of 19. The novel is full of astronomy metaphors; the failure of the 1992 Mars Observer communication system was "a failure and an embarrassment. Therapy felt kind of like that. Pluto Jean Timoney was due to land on Dr. Collins's couch this afternoon, but instead, she hovered by the door before disappearing back out of it, opting to orbit elsewhere instead."

In hopes of returning to her former self, Pluto makes a list of things she wants to accomplish to show she is no longer "broken." Help comes from a sympathetic tutor, an understanding therapist and a new friend, who is dealing with her own issues.

Melleby offers painfully realistic descriptions of Pluto's episodes of depression, her panic attacks and her intense feelings of being "broken" and different from everyone else. She lets readers inside Pluto's head, to understand the panic that results from what might seem the simplest thing to someone else – serving a drink order or talking to a classmate. (Witness Pluto's relief at learning her father's girlfriend takes medication for obsessive compulsive disorder, that she is not the only one with such issues.) This is an important and ultimately hopeful book.

I loved this book! It was reminiscent of The Science of Breakable Things, and Planet Earth is Blue. The voice was authentic, and at times the story made my heartache, but it also gave me hope. I can't wait to go back and discover the author's first book Hurricane Season! I will definitely be recommending this one!

What a total gem of a book. I don't usually pick up books in this age-rage, but planets + mental health = a book this girl cannot resist- and I'm so happy I read it!

Pros: mental health awareness and normalization, a character named Pluto, a great sense of place with the NJ boardwalk, queer rep, gender exploration, a bit character with OCD, and a little bit of romance!

Cons: The ONLY thing I wish is that the story explored the dynamic between Pluto and her mom a teensy bit more. Their relationship a major focus, but I think some examples of how to better support a child with depression and anxiety, or suggestions of how a kid can effectively advocate for themselves would have been helpful. There's a lot of talk of "get up and go go go" in the book, which is correctly IDed as unhelpful, but I felt like there wasn't a clear template for resolution there, though the mom does realize she has work to do.

Otherwise, I think this is such a great read, and a realistic depiction of the struggle- definitely worth adding to the shelves of kids in this age group!

Thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin for the advance copy!

This is a great book on an important topic that is completely necessary in the realm of middle grade fiction. Pluto is dealing, but not dealing, with a recent diagnosis of anxiety and depression that took her out of school and completely derailed her life. The book covers Pluto's struggle with herself, her mom, and her friends and trying to make sense of the person she's becoming. But it's not all dour, Pluto makes a new friend, Fallon, who makes her feel like things will one day get better, and her love of astronomy and all things space is a constant throughout the book. While Pluto's mental health is the focus of the book, there is the underlying plot of trying to make the most of summer vacation, just not in the way most books go. There's also some good representation in Fallon, who is questioning her gender identity, and Sarah, Pluto's dad's girlfriend, who has OCD. Though it deals with a hard topic, this book is full of hope and shows kids going through a similar experience that while things may be rough and seem hopeless, things can always get better.

First, I want to thank NetGalley for the free e-ARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Pluto is imploding, becoming non-existent, wanting to disappear so people will just stop trying to make her do things and be normal. Pluto's life began to spiral, but no one really noticed or cared, not until it got so bad that Pluto's mom had to break down her door. And then begins a summer that she never wanted to exist. Doctor visits, Therapist visits, people telling to just act happy and then she'll be happy, friends walking away, but a new friend drawing near.

We learn so much in this book and we become empathetic to those that struggle daily with mental illness and with identity. And to struggle with both at the same time, in the midst of puberty.... you just want to grab Pluto, wrap her up in a loving hug, and tell her one day it will be better.

We see her struggling with friendships that now exclude her. She wants to be included, she wants to be "normal", but she just doesn't have it in her at this place and time. So she learns. She learns about herself, her disease, her parents, and the others around her. She learns who loves her regardless and then she begins to love herself and find herself.

We all need to read books like this that are done so sensitively and so well, books that take us into worlds we really don't want in, and we need to understand and continue to love through the struggles.

Really honest and so realistic. The first MG account of depression I've read that focuses on the kid's depression, rather than an older relative/friend, and doesn't sugarcoat it. And some very gentle, sweet queer exploration!

Beautifully written, this Middle Grade book is bound to twist your heart into knots. The main character, Pluto, is dealing with depression and anxiety and she doesn't feel like herself since the diagnosis. This is a beautiful story about learning to live with ourselves and being kind. Sometimes there is no going back to how it used to be and we have to make a new normal.

Pluto loves space and the analogies in the book in how her experiences of becoming herself are related to Pluto becoming a planet. I loved the space trivia in this book. Though it is a serious read, the characters make it engaging to read. Fallon, Pluto's new friend, is a lovely addition to the story as well. The summer after Grade 7, Pluto and her mom are figuring out how to help each other through Pluto's depression. I loved the commentary on friendship and identity, and as a list-nerd, the challenges of lists and how closely they link to success and failure.

Full review of this book will be on Armed with A Book on May 29th. Many thanks to Algonquin Young Readers for the gifted digital copy of this book for an honest review.

From the author of In the Role of Brie Hutchins… and Hurricane Season comes a middle-grade book about mental health and figuring out a new normal amidst a scary diagnosis. Set to be released on May 25th, Nicole Melleby’s How to Become a Planet shows how one girl grapples with her depression and anxiety while also trying to go back to the person she was before.

This book offers such wonderful insight into mental health and what it’s like to live with depression and anxiety. As a reader, it’s easy to become really drawn into Pluto’s story and how her emotions change throughout this tumultuous time in her life.

This book is such a fabulous middle-grade read! The setting of summer in New Jersey makes you want to walk along the boardwalk with Pluto and her friends and taste a slice of Timoney’s pizza! However, the fun feeling of summer doesn’t detract from Pluto’s story and how she handles her diagnosis. Melleby tackles tough issues like depression, anxiety, sexuality, and self-identity while also making it palatable for a younger audience.

While this book is geared towards younger readers, fans of YA contemporaries will also really enjoy Pluto’s story and may even relate to the feeling of being on the cusp of teenhood. I highly recommend this book for a quick read and insight into what it’s like dealing with being different.

*I received an ARC from Algonquin Young Reader in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a really well-written and tough read. Pluto didn’t go to the last month of 7th grade and now needs to spend the summer with a tutor to make sure she makes it to 8th in the Fall. Pluto was recently diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and since the book lets us see inside her head, it’s a unique look at a 13 year old’s thought process. We see what Pluto wants to feel and what she wants to do, but we also get a look at why she can’t. Pluto is also dealing with friends she’s not sure still want her around, a new friend who didn’t know the “before Pluto,” and a dad who thinks it would be best if she lives with him. It’s a tough read because we see Pluto at some very lows, at how she tries to get out of them, and how her mom deals with it all. I think Pluto is an important character because children will either relate to her (like I would have at that age) or know someone like Pluto. Great for fans of serious middle grade novels.

I love this book. It made me cry a lot because I got Pluto and I got her mom and they both try so hard. I don’t know if the fact that I started reading on a day when every little thing was already making me cry was a good or a bad thing but maybe having an excuse to let those tears come was good, so I’ll go with that.

How to Become a Planet tells the story of Pluto who, just before her thirteenth birthday, is diagnosed with depression and anxiety. She missed the last month or so of seventh grade and needs to work with a tutor to get into eighth grade at the end of the summer. Her mom is trying really hard to help but Pluto’s dad wants her to come live in New York with him. Pluto then makes a list of everything she needs to do before the end of the summer to go back to the Pluto she was before. Life gets in the way but in all that chaos, Pluto makes a new friend, one who didn’t know pre-diagnosis Pluto and who comes with a list of her own.

I can’t detail everything going on in this book, like the fact that Pluto isn’t called Pluto for no reason, or that it came to my attention not because it deals with mental health but for its queer storyline (it’s written as delicately and profoundly as can be hoped for in a Middle Grade book).

As a parent, reading about this sweet child fighting her way through depression was at times overwhelming and it made me think a lot about my own child, who, despite her own issues, is fundamentally a happy person. Which I know doesn’t mean everything is fine. I’m a fundamentally happy person but I also know exactly what Pluto is going through. I have to say, I never expected to find a twelve-year-old girl so relatable. At one point Pluto says, “I don’t know who I am anymore”. Ugh. I named my blog Not Me Anymore.

This book would have helped young me a lot, maybe not at twelve or thirteen because I don’t think I was that aware that early but who knows. It’s gentle and heartbreaking and heartwarming and so many other things at the same time. I haven’t liked a children’s book so much in a very long time. While it made me cry more than I’m comfortable with, it also made my heart very full and warm.

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

TW: Depression, anxiety, panic attacks.

When I look up at the night sky, I can see the stars, the moon, and the inky darkness. If I keep looking, the knowledge washes over me that the universe is so vast, so huge, that we are mere specks. And I watch on in awe, my jaw dropped open. The cosmos is more than humanity can control, but we think we know it all. We think we can include and expel planets from the groups of heavenly objects we seem to move in. We think they care. Pluto, the planet, doesn't care if it's part of the solar system or not. Just don't mess with it.

Pluto, the human, on the other hand, whose mother named her after the planet, is a 12-year-old, about to be 13, and is battling depression and anxiety. Having just been diagnosed, she doesn't know how to deal with the emotions. The bad days make her want to become a black hole and the good days make her doubt herself. And when her father wants her to live with him because he thinks he will be able to provide better medical care for her, she desperately makes a list. A list that, if completed, will allow her to live with her Mom. Oh, and maybe make a new friend in the process.

I finished this book in about 8 hours, with breaks, because it was so engaging. Understanding depression and anxiety isn't easy and this book lays bare the roughest parts of it in a gentle, loving manner that makes your chest ache. You might think that since this is a middle grade book, the story might be softened to match the kids. But despite it being gentle, it is straight-faced and honest.

But it comes with its own issues: it's repetitive in places, the mother's handling of the situation isn't clear - sometimes it makes you assume, and there's a point where Pluto's tutor betrays her to her Mom, which isn't okay on so many levels. Reminded me of Felix Ever After and how Felix was deadnamed before the whole school.

'How to Become a Planet' is still a good read that has queer rep while treating it as the normal thing it is and how it should be treated as in real life.

You’re going to want tissues on hand when reading How to Become a Planet, but in the end the crying feels cathartic.

It’s the summer after seventh grade, and Pluto is struggling to reconcile who she was before and now she’s been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. She missed the last 34 days of school and feels like her friendship with Meredith has fizzled out because they haven’t been texting, and her dad thinks she’d be better if she moved to his place because he has more money and resources to help her with her depression. But she doesn’t want to leave her mom, her shares her love of space and instilled that love in Pluto, so she decides she needs to make a list of goals that, if she completes all of them, she’ll be back to Old Pluto and able to stay with her mom.

I found this book to be extremely relatable and the way the depression was handled was painful yet wonderful. Pluto is at an age (almost thirteen) where it’s hard to explain her emotions, but she knows she’s tired and her body is heavy and sometimes she just wishes to create black hole everything can stop. Which scares her mom, and her mom’s fear sometimes causes her to make Pluto feel worse because she feels like she’s failing at being who she used to be.

A bright spot for Plu is a new friend, Fallon, who didn’t know Pluto before her diagnosis and so doesn’t make comparisons to who or how she used to be. Seeing Pluto’s list gives Fallon the courage to create her own and get Pluto’s help to complete the items on it. Sharing their lists helps their friendship grow and as they grow closer, Plu gets butterflies when she thinks of Fallon, and seeing her tutor Mrs McAuliffe with her wife Sunny makes Plu think of a future like that with Fallon.

This book was an absolutely emotional ride, in the best way. This is a book I’m so glad exists because sometimes it feels like society acts like preteens can’t be depressed until they’re a teenager, and this book gives a name to those feelings and shows healthy coping methods - including therapy and medication. In many ways this book is validating of feelings and experiences for me, and I’m so glad it exists. Nicole Melleby is definitely a must-read author for me now, and I look forward to more stories from her. that hit hard but with so much care.

Oh the tears. The tears with this book. I, as a 45 year old woman, related to Pluto in so many ways and it brought back so many memories of the issues I struggled with growing up. Pluto was such a strong character even with what she was facing and dealing with. Its hard to be her age and even harder to have to go through the things she was dealing with. Her love of space and the planets is what kept her going. I have to say this is one of the best books I have read that dealt with depression in children. It was an honest look at it, with all the raw emotion that comes from it.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley and especially to Algonquin Young Readers for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Pluto suffers from severe depression and this is probably the best depiction of depression I've seen, even when compared to adult books featuring depressed characters. Pluto's feelings really come through here as she struggles with the depression and diagnosis of it.

It is stated that her grandmother also had depression, if not a more series mental illness like bi-polar disorder. I got the impression from Pluto's mother's reluctance to talk about it that the grandmother was possibly untreated, had a more complicated diagnosis, or committed suicide. Pluto's mom also repeatedly states how scared she was when Pluto locked herself in her room because it made her afraid of what she'd find and becomes agitated herself when someone else mentions suicide rates among depressed kids. But it's only ever stated outright that the grandmother was sick with depression and that her mother has trouble talking about it. On one hand I wish it had gone into this more, but feel that might have also pushed it into more of a YA category by the publisher. When talking about mental illness, family history is so important and helpful to understanding one's own struggles with it.

Pluto's new friend is also trying to figure out who they are. While Fallon doesn't make the decision during the course of the book that they are non-binary, they are at least gender queer or agender. Nor do they decided to change their pronouns to they/them, I'm using them here. Pluto has a crush on Fallon and in the end the two kiss. Through out the story they help each other become the person they will be from now on.

I give this one Four Lightsabers for it's portrayal of mental illness at a young age.

Fourteen year old Pluto is an engaging youngster, as passionate about astronomy as she is puzzled by the changes in her life and herself. Within a short period of time, she’d gone from a happy science geek who hangs out with her best friend on the boardwalk where her divorced mother runs the family pizzeria, to a stranger in her own skin. Sometimes she’s paralyzed with the blues, unable to even get out of bed, and the next she’s caught up in senseless fury. It’s as if the mood swings of normally hormonal adolescence have been amped up to pathological proportions. Even with a supportive mother, a psychiatric diagnosis complete with medications and a recommendation for psychotherapy, and a novel way of using astronomical concepts as metaphors for what she’s going through, Pluto is drowning. Not only is she progressively alienating everyone she cares about, but she’s stopped caring. Only when her rich city father ramps up the pressure for her to live with him does she formulate a desperate plan: a list of all the things she must do in order to stay at home.

Take medication.
Visit the planetarium with Mom.
Go to Former Best Friend’s Birthday party… and so on.

The list, Pluto believes, will prove that she can return to her old, “true,” “normal” self. But things don’t go as planned. As Pluto embarks upon her tasks, they become even less within her reach. The summer takes one unexpected turn after another. The tutor whom Pluto was sure she’d hated turns out to be a sympathetic ally, and a new friend with a checklist of their own has a secret Pluto can sympathize with.

Society tends to “other” people with mental illnesses. Historically, they were seen as possessed by devils or cursed by angry gods, as witches, or as eccentric, lazy, or selfish. Treatments ranged from trephination (drilling holes in the patient’s skull), to exorcism to locking the mentally ill in horrific prison-like asylums. Even today, when effective treatments allow many, even those with serious diagnoses, to lead functional lives, the stigma persists. All too often, the person is seen only as their illness, and their insights and contributions therefore dismissed as invalid. Young people are particularly vulnerable to public shaming. It’s hard enough for even “normal” teens to figure out who they are and what they want in life. How to Become a Planet focuses on Pluto as a sympathetic character, a person who is both resourceful and overwhelmed, insightful and confused by changes in herself. Her use of astronomy metaphors is particularly vivid and powerful. Above all, Pluto is a person whose brain chemistry isn’t working quite right, not a diagnosis, and this excellent novel showcases her journey toward a new balance in her life.

As for my personal reaction, I must confess that, although I am an older adult, I gobbled up this book. Pluto’s voice was so compelling, and her struggles so resonant, that the story connected with me on a deep level. Although I did not suffer depression as a teen, I struggled with PTSD as an adult. The times Pluto absolutely cannot motivate herself to engage with her day was chillingly familiar. And, just as Pluto took small steps toward understanding her “new normal,” that’s how it went with me. Besides skillful therapy and appropriate psychiatric medicines, unexpected acts of kindness and new friendships as well as old carried me through the dark times. Pluto comes to accept that she is now and will forever be different from who she was before. I can never go back to the person I was before my own trauma. But I can heal and grow and live a fulfilling life. I wish the same for Pluto. She’s made an excellent start.

Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin Young Readers for the eARC.

How to Become a Planet is emotional, heartwarming, and sweet, as it navigates Pluto's issues with mental health, her friendships, and her family. As always, I greatly enjoy reading queer books for younger readers, and I'm delighted that they're becoming more popular.

I don't speak for everyone, but I liked how this book handles Pluto's depression and anxiety, especially by addressing that these aren't fixable problems, nor are they things that make someone any less of a person. I also liked how it shows the effects on the other people in her life. I wish it did more to address her mother's actions, specifically the things she does that hurt Pluto; while she's having trouble dealing with Pluto's diagnosis, she's still the adult in this situation and should have taken more responsibility. Additionally, Pluto's tutor outed her to her mom, and that just got pushed to the side, which is in no way okay. She should not have betrayed Pluto's trust in that way, and I don't particularly appreciate how easily it was forgiven and forgotten about. This last critique is a small thing, but I thought it was odd and a little inaccurate how the adults in this book treated middle schoolers like they were significantly younger.

I gave this book 3.5 stars; I thought it was mostly well written, and I would definitely recommend it to younger readers.

Major content warnings for panic attacks, depression, being outed.

This book is incredible- a sensitive and nuanced portrayal of depression that focuses on the middle grade main character's depression and not a side character's. I think it will mean a lot to kids who see themselves in it, but I also think it will be incredibly helpful for those trying to understand a loved one with depression. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed reading this book and how it deals with depression. Pluto is such an amazing character and I loved reading through her different days. I also enjoyed learning about Fallon and how Pluto's feelings for her developed. This was such a great for and I think it is perfect for readers ages 10-13.

I didn’t know what depression was when I was 13. I didn’t have a depression diagnosis at that time and wouldn’t have it when I spiraled a year and a half later into bad days and really bad days. I wouldn’t have it when I was 19 and those bad days led to isolation and pushing people away and I wouldn’t have at 21 when the bad days started to get better, but I still wasn’t the happy, funny, and outgoing person I had been at 18. I wouldn’t get the diagnosis until I was 23 and I was asking a therapist to help fix me. A year later and sometimes I still think I can find a way to be that funny person again.
Finding this book makes my heart ache with sadness, happiness, and understanding. How To Become A Planet gave me a new understanding not just for my own battle with depression, but a way to understand the ones who support us and surround us. I wanted to squeeze Pluto throughout the entire book and make her see that she isn’t alone. I wanted to thank her for showing me that I am not alone either.
All of the characters in HTBAP are complex and established in an incredible way. I have not encountered a middle-grade novel quite like this where every character is easy to relate to and understand. The complexity is there, and each character feels as fleshed out as the main characters, as real as them. I also enjoyed that Pluto and her friends felt like 13-year-olds. Dealing with huge topics like depression, anxiety, and identity can be tough and I expected the characters to read older, but they didn’t, they read like the age they are portrayed as and that makes it so much easier a book to recommend to middle graders.
One theme that I enjoyed throughout the novel was the theme of support. Support is extremely important in every person’s life and you can never have too many people on your side. Melleby explores not only the benefit of having a lot of support but the benefit of the right support. Melleby discusses how to support those around you when they struggle and the importance of the role of commination in support systems.
I loved this book from start to finish and would recommend it to every middle grader, parent of a middle grader, and any person who struggles with depression, anxiety, or identity. It is a beautifully written novel that will grasp your heart and hug your soul.

Set on a Jersey Shore boardwalk where Pluto lives with her mom. It is the summer before eighth grade, but but to be promoted, Pluto needs to make up 34 days of seventh grade work she missed at the end of the year, so she now has a tutor. That is just one thing affecting Pluto. Best friend Meredith has stepped away and found new friends. Dad has moved to NYC, has a new girlfriend, and he wants Pluto to spend the summer with him and see a therapist. Mom runs a pizzeria that has been in her family for year, but Pluto feels the new first ever manager is bossy. This is just the “short list”, and Pluto is diagnosed with depression. When Fallon moves to the seaside town, a new dimension is added. Great feeling of the boardwalk with a pizzeria just steps from the ocean, the amusement park and the arcade. This is a well written book about finding the courage to express yourself without exploding or tuning out. It is not heavy handed, and I felt it was a gentle presentation of depression and lgbt. Definitely recommended.