By Bernard Waber
Ira's best friend Reggie is moving away, and what stings most is that Reggie seems thrilled to go, right up until the van is loaded and he can't hold it together.
Ira's best friend Reggie is moving to a town called Greendale, far enough that they won't be neighbors anymore. That's hard enough, but Reggie won't stop talking about how great Greendale is going to be: a fishing pond, a dentist who hands out prizes, fun and more fun. He hardly seems bothered about leaving Ira behind. So Ira gets hurt, then angry, then just as cold right back, and it starts to look like the two of them will part on a bad note. Then moving day comes. The van is loaded, the families are saying goodbye, and Reggie bursts into tears. His dad quietly tells Ira that Reggie has been dreading this day the whole time. The move still happens, but they part as friends, with visits already planned. This is the sequel to Ira Sleeps Over, the same two boys a little older.
I'd reach for this when a child is on either side of a friendship goodbye, the one being left or the one doing the leaving. Waber names something children don't often hear out loud: a friend who acts excited to move can feel like a friend who doesn't care, and sometimes that brightness is covering for being scared and sad too. He lets both boys be angry and awkward before they get to the honest part, so a child sees that a goodbye can go badly for a while and still come out okay. By the end there are visits on the calendar, so it doesn't leave a child sitting in the sad part.