Positive story about navigating depression and anxiety. This book would be great for younger readers. It was easy to follow the story line and understand what Pluto was going through.

First, a confession. I had no idea what this book was going to be about, and I made a judgement about it based on its cover (which apparently is frowned upon). But I was right. I read it in two sittings, broken only by sleep. The story of Pluto is unflinching in its portrayal of depression, and it is without a doubt the most powerful MG book I've ever read. The word "unputdownable" gets banded around a lot, but How to Become a Planet is exactly that.

The book opens with astronomy-obsessed Pluto calling the Hayden Planetarium Astronomy Question and Answer Hotline, and this becomes a through-line in the book. Pluto asks how to create a black hole, whether people born with the Cancer constellation sign have panic attacks a lot, how long it took the scientists to decide Pluto should not be a planet...all questions which relate to Pluto's innter turmoil. It's a lifeline as much as it's a hotline.

Of course, Pluto doesn't get the answers she's looking for, because this isn't a book about easy fixes, and those phone calls are a hint that you aren't going to get a fairytale happy ending. Pluto grapples with understanding her depression, with the awareness that she isn't the same girl she once was - "I don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t know what makes me Pluto anymore" - and she frames her experience in references to space and astronomy...

How to Become a Planet does an admirable job of presenting mental illness from the child's perspective. It doesn't gloss over it or sugarcoat it: the adults in Pluto's life make mistakes; Pluto's friends struggle to understand and accept her; the impact depression and anxiety have on Pluto is raw and unflinching. It's a powerful novel. Front and centre, the book is about Pluto's journey towards understanding herself, but it is also about other people learning to understand her. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Overall, I have very mixed feelings about How to Become a Planet. On the one hand, I applaud it for its delicate handling of depression, anxiety, and LGBTQIA in a coming of age middle grade novel. Its themes are important and I think this story could be critical for tweens looking for themselves in their reading experience as they navigate growing up, their identity, friendship, and pain. It moved me to tears at one point. The themes of identity and self-discovery were handled so tenderly and honestly.

However, I think the writing left much to be desired and sometimes I felt like it didn't go deep enough into what each character was experiencing. To me, the best middle grade novels just read like great novels, whereas at times How to Become a Planet felt like I was reading a children's book. Its writing style felt more juvenile and I was left wanting more. Still, I was engaged by Pluto's journey and cared about her as a character. The themes make it a worthwhile read and I'd recommend it wholeheartedly to a middle-grader, but perhaps less enthusiastically to an adult reader.

I thought this was great. Pluto is an autistic coded character (unsure if this is intentional) who is working through her understanding of her recent anxiety and depression diagnosis. It's raw and real, Pluto is turning 13 and wants to be her old self again. When she meets Fallon (potential trans or non-binary character) she sees true friendship with the potential for something more.

There are rules to being a full planet


Be in orbit around the sun
Have enough mass to pull itself into an almost perfect sphere
Have cleared its orbit of other celestial objects


Pluto lost its full planetary status in 2006 for failing to meet all three criteria. Like her planet, Pluto Timoney feels as if she is failing. A month after her Mum had to break down her bedroom door and after she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, thirteen year old Pluto is trying hard to pull herself back into a perfect “old” Pluto shape. She makes a list of things that she needs to do to be herself again, but sometimes she is overwhelmed with sadness and wishes she was a black hole so she wouldn’t have to feel anything ever again. Some of the people she loves don’t know how to be around her any more, if they ever did (looking at you Dad), and it’s with the help of a new tutor, a therapist and a cute new friend that Pluto comes to accept herself, depression and all


Set in New Jersey, this middle-grade novel provides a clear-eyed, but tender examination of adolescent mental health. There were days into weeks when Pluto couldn’t get out of bed, when washing her hair seemed a Herculean task and taking her medications utterly impossible. The author managed to simultaneously portray Pluto’s sense of isolation whilst showing her Mum in utter despair at being unable to help her daughter feel any better. A moving novel that explains the impact of depression both on the young person living with it and the people around them. Although it may sound heavy going, it is eminently readable and might provide opportunity to open up conversations around mental health. There is also LGBTQIA+ representation with Pluto’s friend, maybe going to be girlfriend, also exploring her gender identity


Thank you so much to the Publisher for allowing me to be part of the blog tour for How To Become A Planet

Thank you to Algonquin and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. This review is part of a blog tour created by Algonquin.

Last year, I read Nicole Melleby’s first two books, In the Role of Brie Hutchens (review) and Hurricane Season, and she became one of my favorite middle grade writers, especially when it comes to queer contemporary middle grade! All of her books feature girls figuring out their sexuality, and Hurricane Season deals pretty heavily with the main character’s father’s bipolar disorder. Those themes continue in her newest, How to Become a Planet, but of course the characters and story are still their own. Personally…I think this is my favorite so far!

In Planet, our main character, Pluto–yes, that’s her real name, and she and her mom are astronomy and sci-fi obsessives–has just been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and missed the end of seventh grade. A lot of middle grade books that discuss mental health do so with the main character dealing with diagnosis/treatment of a parent or sibling, rather than themselves. If the main tween character is struggling, it usually focuses on the before-diagnosis era, like in my personal favorites Claire Legrand’s Some Kind of Happiness (review) and Amy King’s The Year We Fell From Space (review). But, as Melleby has mentioned in interviews, we need to not think of diagnosis as the end point, but a starting point–and I am so grateful this story is being told.

So, Pluto’s world is changing–she has to take medicine, her mom has hired help running the family pizzeria on the Jersey Shore boardwalk, she has to do tutoring to move on to eighth grade, she needs to become comfortable with therapy, and she wants her birthday trip to the planetarium to be as special as it is every year. Pluto and her mom create this list in an attempt to show that Pluto will be fine living with her mom, because her dad in New York City has more money and more access to healthcare, and her parents are considering having her live there instead.

Meanwhile, Pluto and her best friend Meredith are not so close due to all the time Pluto missed in school and her fears about Meredith seeing her differently, so she also wants to attend Meredith’s waterpark birthday party at the end of the summer. She meets a new friend on the boardwalk, though–Fallon, who confides in Pluto that she has a list of her own to start exploring her gender identity and presentation (note: this is early stages; Fallon uses she/her pronouns throughout the book). These two parallel journeys have their similarities and differences, ups and downs, but ultimately Fallon provides something Pluto needs: someone who doesn’t see her as “different” since the diagnosis, because they didn’t know each other before. And…they also have a super cute budding romance, which savvy (probably older) readers will start to notice before Pluto herself does.

So many things about depression and anxiety were explored in an important, realistic representation. Pluto has her up and down days, and I felt so validated because a lot of people don’t realize that depression isn’t 100% the same every day. She has panic attacks and is too overwhelmed to do a lot of social things. Her feelings are simply communicated in the way she understands them at her age, with her own astronomy comparison. Nothing is perfect or linear in mental health, which is difficult when writing fiction, but Planet still manages to have a clear emotional arc of acceptance and improving relationships. Pluto struggles with therapy at first, and she mistakenly believes the therapist might be able to “fix” her…maybe I’m projecting, but I think it’s a common experience and misunderstanding. She’s also very insecure about her friendships and parents, fearing she could be a burden, and struggles to reconcile her “before” and “after” life before her ultimate breakdown and diagnosis–sometimes, it’s easier to just escape that old life. She even has trouble concentrating on reading, which I unfortunately relate to this year, and perhaps many of us can with how COVID affected our lives. Ultimately, Pluto realizes that like the former planet, she is the same, her classification has just changed. (Can’t believe there’s a whole new generation of kids who don’t remember their childhood love for Pluto being crushed in 2006 when it was demoted! Today’s middle schoolers weren’t born yet!)

Like Melleby’s other books and other good middle grade, How to Become a Planet features parents quite heavily–after all, they are such an important part of kids’ everyday lives! The situation with Pluto’s wealthier, NYC-living (and D&D-obsessed) father who has his own girlfriend and hopes Pluto will live with him seems like a familiar dynamic (minus the geekiness), but when she does reluctantly visit for a weekend, things are more complicated and unexpected. I loved how Pluto learned to see her parents as complicated humans still figuring out their own lives.

Planet takes place in New Jersey like Melleby’s other books, and the boardwalk summer culture is lovingly well-realized. This Italian-American with a Brooklyn-native father loved the inclusion of the pizzeria and zeppoles that Fallon’s large Italian family makes.

I admit, I sometimes struggle reading upper middle grade that is written in third person. It gives it a storybook feel that makes me want to hug the book closely, and while the sentence structure and language is definitely accessible, it can read younger than the characters are themselves (trust me, I’ve taught and worked with plenty of 7th graders). I felt that issue more with Planet than I did with Melleby’s previous Brie Hutchens–a book that strikes an eighth grade maturity not often seen in MG–but as the story went on, Pluto (like Brie) got to be a moody, complicated teenager that wasn’t completely because of her anxiety and depression. The fights between her and those she cares about the most really ratcheted up the stakes. The third person is also important, I realized, to communicate the little signs of Pluto’s crush on Fallon that she seems to not be consciously aware of for a while.

I desperately want to send this book in a wormhole to my younger self. This was such a lovely end to a Mental Health Awareness month. I started May joking that I’d been too aware of my mental health lately and needed a break, but several authors and their writing ended up helping me–which I will be writing about soon!

I found the characters authentic and the topics covered engaging. I was wavering on how I felt but I think the ending was very strong. I was worried it would just be a romance or Pluto, the main character, would just start to feel better.

But the author covered depression and anxiety (something my child struggles with) in a very realistic way. That it's not something one person can fix or one thing on a list can fix. It's a process. It takes time. There's good and bad days.

I thought the LGBTQ sub-plot was well-handled as well. I would recommend to our patrons.

There are some books that just touch a special place in my heart, and “How to Become a Planet” is one of them. It’s filled with so much heart and love, and I instantly want to recommend it to every YA reader I know.

When Pluto (yes that’s her real name) gets diagnosed with depression and anxiety, she goes on a quest one summer to complete everything on a to-do list she’s created. The list includes attending her best friend’s birth party, taking her medication, and seeing a therapist. She just wants to find out how to get back to her old self (the one that didn’t struggle with sadness and panic attacks). Pluto learns to lean on the people around her, including her supportive single mother and a new friend named Fallon.

I won’t go into too much other detail so that the book stays fresh, but I have to say that Nicole Melleby did an incredible job capturing mental health struggles (especially ones that can manifest in adolescents). I could instantly relate to her descriptions of panic attacks and the darkness and lack of joy that comes along with depression. Not only do I think a lot of people can relate to Pluto’s story, I also think the book can do a great job creating compassion and empathy in people who haven’t experienced issues with their own mental health. These topics aren’t talked about enough, especially with this age group.

Aside from the subject matter, Melleby is also skilled at creating fully dimensional characters that feel recognizable and authentic. The book is paced really well – there aren’t any boring chapters or lack of plot advancement. Melleby is able to infuse the novel with some complicated situations but they’re handled with great care and with grace.

I hope this book becomes required reading for young readers. I’m a fan of any story that allows me to relate while also increasing my compassion for others that might be out there struggling too. I’m so in love with this book and can’t recommend it enough!

Hurricane Season is one of my favorites so when I saw Nicole Melleby was releasing another Middle Grade centered around mental health awareness I knew I'd definitely be picking it up!

Summer has always been Pluto's favorite. She spends her time between the boardwalk arcade, her moms pizzeria, and hanging out with her friend Meredith but this year it's different. This year she's struggled to get out of bed.

Pluto's character is well developed and so real. I could feel her pain while reading this book. The depression keeps her in bed but the anxiety keeps her from experiencing all the things she used to love. The checklist she creates is supposed to help her face those fears but all it does is cause her to be more anxious. It's like it gives her something to focus on but not always in a good way.

Throughout this book you'll see how Pluto learns to manage her depression, makes a new friend, and works to redefine her relationship with her mom and dad. Pluto's journey is one of self-discovery and finding your identity. It is well written, emotional, and beautiful all in one. Nicole is definitely one of my favorite middle grade authors and I will continue to read and support her books. I think they are important, especially for the young people struggling with mental illness themselves or understanding mental illness in someone else.

How to Become a Planet is the book I wish I had in middle school. It's not an easy book to read, in a way that deals with heavy, tough topics (depression, anxiety, coming out, OCD, isolation). It often hurts to read, while it simultaneously warms your heart and gives you hope. It really resonated with with me and my own lived experiences when I was young. Things that are more understood and talked about now, but still so alienating and scary when you're in them.

The writing is so lovely and atmospheric, it flows easily and makes you want to not put it down. There's queer rep, mental health awareness and normalization, gender exploration, a great setting, and the teensiest bit of romance! Space themed and loaded with personal growth, I loved this book!

Thanks to Algonquin for the advanced copy!

Last year I read Nicole Melleby's In the Role of Brie Hutchens and fell in love with the story. So when How to Become a Planet came along, I knew I had to read it. Middle grade books with important themes are so necessary and important I feel. In How to Become a Planet, Melleby portrays depression and Anxiety in youth, and how it can impact their daily activities, friendships and family, while also being a story of hope and growth.

Pluto has felt less of a person since the doctors gave her medicines. She feels less of a human being and makes a list of things she had to do to become a human, so that her mother didn't send her to live with her father in the city. Just like the planet Pluto being stripped off its title, young Pluto wants to know why - why couldn't Pluto be a planet? What makes a planet? And for her, what will make her human again?

Reading this book warmed my heart and at the same time there was a tugging feeling at my chest where I just wanted to give Pluto the biggest hug and tell her that it was alright, whatever she was feeling. Melleby did a great job portraying Pluto's character arc, her dilemma, confused feelings and emotions, her fright and anger. The author simply takes you on a ride alongside Pluto.

The writing was exquisite and clean. The narration simply aided the story perfectly. The way the story unfolded was fantastic and everything was so seamlessly put together.

It is very less that you see such topics being tackled in children's books. Mental health is a theme that needs to be spoken about more and to have read it in such a beautiful manner in HTBAP was a wholesome experience. Surely, every person's experience is different and I think through Pluto, we get to see one of them.

At the cusp of the book is a story about newfound friendship and learning to be okay. It's also a very cute queer love story in the middle of everything, and the end just brought such a huge smile on my face. I loved the relationship that Pluto had with her mother - complicated and yet so full of love.

How to Become a Planet ultimately is such a wonderful and beautiful little story about love, friendship, family, mental health and over all, learning to be okay.

This is an important book about a big, heavy topic, and I'm so glad it exists for those kids who need it. I love Pluto and can't wait to share her story with others.

How to Become a Planet is one of a growing list of middle-grade books that tackle mental health issues — anxiety, depression, OCD, ADD/ADHD, etc. The focus ranges from parents and siblings to friends and neighbors, and each offers a different path through whatever issue a particular character is facing. These books can help readers feel at ease with their own personal situations, whatever they might be.

Author Nicole Melleby does an excellent job conveying the pure exhaustion, stress, exasperation and anger that come with depression and anxiety. But because she does such an excellent job, it’s not an easy read. Often, as the reader, I found myself almost too inside of Pluto’s head. I found it effected my own mood, requiring me to read in spurts rather than my normal pace.

Melleby easily sets a scene, and her writing is smooth and full of emotion. Pluto feels authentic, as do her actions/reactions. Pluto’s parents come across as annoying, but given that they’re seen through Pluto’s lens, that’s not unexpected.

Another key element of How to Become a Planet is Melleby’s look at queer exploration. This storyline is as gentle and sweet as they come, and fits naturally within the confines of the book. It also adds some much needed lightness throughout.

Because mental illness is never a one-size-fits-all situation, different books are going to be more accessible to some than others. In the case of How to Become a Planet, I struggled. It’s not a good fit for me, but it could be for you. I’d try the first few chapters and see how it fits for your/ your child’s situation.

Things I Loved:

* The very existence of an engaging middle grade book with a realistic depiction of depression and anxiety.
* This book could be highly relatable to kids who may be struggling to discover or adjust to a diagnosis and/or to find empathy for friends or relative with mental illness.
* Pluto's relationship with her mom felt very real to me. I have a 12 year old daughter and the ups and downs and pulling towards and pushing away from each other was very well depicted in this book.
* Queer representation.

Things I Did Not Love:

* The tutor situation - like maybe she should have kept her mouth shut and not blabbed Pluto's business to her mom before Pluto had even brought it up or discussed it with anyone? AAAGH. Meddler.
* The dad was such a tool. I wish Pluto's mom had stood up to him more so Pluto didn't feel like she had to.
* The space stuff got a little repetitive, but whatever - it was a theme and it worked overall.

Final Thoughts:

* This was an enjoyable, engaging read, with relatable, interesting characters.
* Recommended for 5th grade and up (Age 11+).
* This was my first book by Nicole Melleby, and I'd love to read her other work!

3.5 rounded up to 4

How to Become a Planet is not an easy book to read, in a way that it’s a book about a depressed teenager. It hurts to read, especially if it resonates with your own lived experiences. At the same time, because the writing is so good, it flows easily and makes you want to finish the whole thing in one sitting. A book of contradictions.

As always with Melleby’s books, there is more than one obstacle for the main character to deal with, but all of it ties together nicely. Pluto has depression, yes, but she also has panic attacks quite regularly; she has to make up a big portion of her school year she messed up because of her mental illnesses; she has parents who aren’t a couple anymore and both want the best for her, but just end up pulling her in different directions; she has friendships breaking apart…

All of this just works to make the book more real and relatable. It never feels like piling more & more problems on Pluto’s shoulders for the sake of creating some kind of tragedy porn. On the contrary, for every little thing that’s broken (or in the process of breaking) in Pluto’s life, there’s either something good happening or someone introducing a solution for Pluto to try. She has an amazing support system, and that might be the most important & groundbreaking part of How to Become a Planet.

Those were all choices on the author’s part, and they feel very deliberate. Even the title itself. Pluto, as her name demands, is obsessed with astronomy. There’s a whole plotline where she calls the Hayden Planetarium Astronomy Question and Answer Hotline numerous times, but each time she asks a super specific question. Sometimes they’re strictly astronomy related, but sometimes they’re more about Pluto and her life, as if the Hotline was her safe haven, a Life Line almost.

How to Become a Planet is a very tender book. It’s shaped in a way to let LGBT youth know they will always have people fighting for them, there will always be hope & love. The book breaks your heart a little bit, but it also stitches it back together, just like Pluto stitches herself back together, with the help of all the people around her who care deeply about her happiness.

Pluto Timoney hasn’t been to school in over a month, she stopped hanging out with her best friend Meredith, and her mom took her bedroom door off.

Thirteen-year-old Pluto loves outer space, so does her mom, hence the name Pluto. Pluto used to love summertime, walking on the boardwalk with her friends and hanging out at her mom’s pizza place, but that was before - her diagnosis. Pluto was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and now it hurts just to get out of bed some days; she’s so tired. She wants to be back to her old self and be able to go back to school in the fall and be “normal.”

When Pluto meets Fallon, a kid from the funnel cake shop down the boardwalk, she loves that Fallon doesn’t know the Pluto before the diagnosis. As Fallon and Pluto develop a special bond, Pluto tries to find ways to accept this new version of herself.

Talking about depression in young people is never fun, but it needs to be openly discussed. Melleby paints such an honest, realistic picture of a young teen who struggles with depression and anxiety: the loss of friendship, the search for identity, being caught between parents, and the desire to do everyday things that seem too overwhelming. With a clever space theme, this book is a must-read for kids, parents - everyone! And as May is Mental Health Awareness Month, now is the perfect time to grab a copy.

Thank you to @algonquinyr and @nicolemelleby for an invitation to this tour and a #gifted copy.

Have you ever cried after reading a book? I cried when reading How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby. It was just so wholesome, and it explored identity, personality, friendship and more. Both main characters are on the LGBTQ+, and it just mad everything oh so much better! I just loved it this book. It made me cry happy tears!

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]

3 1/2

There are times as a reviewer that I try to guess what a writer’s intention was in their creation process. Considering how intense and unyielding I frequently found How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby to be, I wondered if the author was trying to replicate just how unyielding depression is. That it’s all-encompassing and unrelenting, shadowing everything a person does and thinks. And, how especially hard this must be as a tween, when you already feel self-conscious and now stick out even more over some body imbalance over which you have no control.

Pluto has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety in her twelfth year. What this immediately has meant is that she’s not been able to attend school, lost her best friend, lost her door after a bad episode, and now finds herself pulled between her father who has money and lives in NY City and can offer more to getting her healthy and her mother, who pretty much only has love to give–not that should ever be considered second-rate.

After this past year in which many of us discovered depression to varying degrees, I could empathize somewhat with Pluto the thirteen year-old girl at the center of this story. Her fits of anger were very difficult for me to read, even though I know that can be a symptom of depression in teens. But I also felt for her mother, who, in her early 30s, is trying to navigate a landscape filled with landmines pretty much on her own, although she is constantly reaching out for help for Pluto, not to mention that she’s also trying to run a business.

While I can’t say that I liked or loved this novel, I did appreciate the structure in which person Pluto identifies with now-non-planet Pluto, her fascinations with the doomed Challenger mission and Christa Mcauliffe. I very much appreciated all of the links to black holes and other space-technology related information as it applies to Pluto’s life and understanding. I also liked the very real depictions of relationships between Pluto and her once very best friend Meredith.

I do think this is an important novel for understanding depression in teenagers, but I also think it’s trying to deal with a multiplicity when singularity would be more than enough. While I feel that there is a lot to recommend this novel, I feel that there is also a caveat of reading under guidance. For teens suffering from depression and their peers trying to understand why their best friends are pulling away, this novel could mean everything for its very realistic depiction. For others, it might be a tough but illuminating reading.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.