Big Ernie's New Home: A Story for Young Children Who Are Moving

I bought this for my two year old before moving to a new home. He refused to let me read it for about a month, but now, he asks for it every night. It is a sweet story about a cat who is having a hard time adjusting to moving to a new home. I guess that makes it a little less threatening than if it were a child as the main character. The cat has a boy, Little Henry, who my son calls, Boo's Mom (Boo being my son's cat), and Little Henry does seem to be the maternal figure in the cat's life, so that makes sense. It does have a picture of the cat in a cat carrier, which seems to upset my son, but it gives us an opportunity to talk about how sometimes cats need to be in cat carriers, and children in strollers, to stay safe. The story includes many details about the physical locations of the old and new homes, which would seem to make it less relevant to our situation, buy my son doesn't seem bothered by it.

Book is great prepping toddler for our move. Even better since our big grey cat is named Ernie!

This was extremely helpful in preparing our 3 year old to move. We started reading it about 2 weeks before the move, but I wish I’d started about a week earlier. The first time we read it was about a day or two after I told him we were moving. Upon reading the page where Henry tells Big Ernie they are moving, my son’s eyes lit up and he gasped, “Like us!!!” The back of the book contains some very helpful tips about helping young children move. I highly recommend this to anyone who is moving with young children!(We also bought the Berenstain Bears moving book, so we had some variety in the moving literature.)

We’re moving with a 2.5 year old and I got this book to begin introducing the concept of moving. My kid likes the “kitty cat” and I think that for her it’s just a cute story right now, but I’m hoping that when we get closer to actually moving she’ll be able to make the connection to the story. I also really liked the information for parents at the end!

Age appropriate for a 4-5 year old. Probably a bit long for a younger kid. The family in the book moves from San Francisco to Albuquerque, arriving in winter when there is a light dusting of snow on the ground. They are also moving from a city neighborhood to a house that has desert and a small creek/wash in the back yard. It takes awhile for the cat to get used to the new place, but with the help of the little boy, he eventually settles in. Just like in the book, our cat was a lot more stressed by the move than our daughter. You may find that your child wants to give your cat "Tuna Breakfast" after reading this book.

Our family loves this book. We bought it three years ago when we moved and we got another for our next-door neighbors a few months ago when they moved out of state. It's great story about transition and, unlike most children's books about moving, the child is the one doing the comforting in this one. We have the other types of books too where a mom is comforting her child, but it's nice to have one where the child is the one in control and he is helping his cat. This book also would be particularly helpful for moves from one climate to another because they highlight that in the book.

We purchased this book for my two-year old when we were about a month away from moving to a different state. First, I should say that my son loves it. I mean, LOVES it. He wants to read it over and over again. And the book does get the point across. It talks about feelings that may come up during a move: sadness, loneliness, anger, etc. But it is long, people. LONG. It goes into a lot of detail where detail really isn't necessary, so it becomes very tedious to read.I noticed that other reviewers also didn't like that the story is told from the perspective of the cat (with the boy acting as comforter to his worried pet), but I actually thought that element of the story was okay, even cute. The illustrations were nice, too. For me, it was just the level of detail that became annoying.

Our family was prepping to relocate. My wife bought this book for our 3 year old daughter. I honestly didn't think that a bedtime book would be so beneficial, but it really made a big difference. After and during our move our daughter referenced characters and scenes in the books. It's as if she was able to relate to the circumstances because of the story. I have now read it too her more than a hundred times (no exaggeration!) and she continues to ask for it. I'd say it's in her top five favorite books for sure.

The book tells the story from the cats point of view - which is brilliant. Our 3 year old grandchild was very sensitive to their cat during the move - put him in more of a caregiver role and suddenly the move was not so worrisome. Recommend this book.

The best aspect of this book is that the story is told from the point of view of the cat and the little boy is helping the cat cope with a difficult move. My daughter likes the story but personally I do not find the drawings very nice and I found that bits of the story could bring anguish.

Purchaser for my five year old when we were moving out of province. Grameat story to show moving is a change and everything is new but you will have the same activities just different surroundings.

This book is only ok. It's very specific as to where they are moving from and to, which I think made it harder for my 3 year old to relate to it. However, there are very helpful tips in the back for helping children cope with and adjust to a move, which is why I gave it 3 stars. At the very least the book itself can be used to I initiate a conversation about the differences and similarities between it and the move that your child will be experiencing. SPOILER ALERT: Big Ernie is the family cat.

We are moving in a few months and my 5 year old has been quite anxious about it. She really enjoyed this book, and it opened a dialogue that allowed us to talk about what she is worried about.There is also a section at the back that assists parents in understanding and managing concerns a child may have about moving.