Change is never easy, and even when a transition brings new opportunities, it can still be somewhat unsettling. In this novel in verse, eighteen fifth graders explore through poetry their last year at Emerson School in Ms. Hill's class. Each of the youngsters has a story to tell or an experience or voice that makes him/her unique, and they're certainly not always unified in their approach to problems or their feelings about the school being shut down to make room for a grocery store. Experienced teachers will recognize the impact of their home lives on how the students feel each day while novice teachers can gain insight into what matters to each of those boys and girls. George Furst, for instance, runs for Student Council president and becomes a leader in the class's efforts to prevent the school's closing, but he's hiding his own pain about the dissolution of his family and what he considers to be his father's desertion. Shoshanna Berg is reeling under the pressure of being Hannah Wiles' best friend and having to follow her lead. Hannah herself is miserable while living with her father and stepmother and having her mother far away while she's deployed. Although there are no poems written by their teacher, her story is told in snippets through the eyes of her students. It is cool to see relationships form and fracture over the course of the year as the students write poems to be placed in a time capsule to be opened in the future. I liked how there are images of each student and the date written above the poems as well as an explanation of the different poetic forms used in the book and suggestions for in the form of a Poetry Prompt Jar. Young readers will be sad when the book comes to a close and that fifth year comes to a bittersweet end. I highly recommend that students and teachers read this book as a reminder about how impact writing--in this case, poetry--can be and how much it can change someone's life. There is much here about which to laugh, to cry, and to ruminate. Having a diverse cast of characters is a bonus too as that represents many of today's classrooms.