Moving Day (book)

Moving Day is a young adult book of poetry by Ralph Fletcher, illustrated by Jennifer Emery. It was first published in 2006.

Summary

Thirty-four short free verse poems that express the feelings of a twelve-year-old boy moving from Massachusetts to Ohio. Some of the topics include packing, the discovery of long-lost treasures, giving things away, and doing things one last time.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews said "The poet leaves pretension at the moving-van door and gives readers a real feel for the evocative emotions of a regular kid--and that regular kid was Fletcher himself. Emery's accompanying watercolor illustrations are like flashes of family history viewed through hand-swiped frost on windows of memory. They are simple, but they speak volumes. A fine collection." Mary Jean Smith in her review for School Library Journal said that "like shards of glass, Emery's pencil drawings with their watercolor washes mirror the loss and longing in these poems." and she describes the book as "excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre" Sylvia M. Vardell in her book Poetry People said that "the poems are loosely connected one to another to reveal the grieving process of separating from the familiar and slowly establishing new roots in a new place." and that "this collection is a reassuring voice for children who are dealing with one of life's most challenging transitions."

Moving Day

Moving Day may refer to:

In television episodes:

Moving Day (New York City)

Moving Day was a tradition in New York City dating back to colonial times and lasting until after World War II. On February 1, sometimes known as "Rent Day", landlords would give notice to their tenants what the new rent would be after the end of the quarter, the tenants would spend good-weather days in the early spring searching for new houses and the best deals and on the first of May all leases in the city expired simultaneously at 9:00 am, causing thousands of people to change their residences, all at the same time.

Local legend has it that the tradition began because the first of May was the day the first Dutch settlers set out for Manhattan, but The Encyclopedia of New York City links it instead to the English celebration of May Day. While it may have originated as a custom, the tradition took force of law by an 1820 act of the New York State legislature, which mandated that if no other date was specified, all housing contracts were valid to the first of May – unless the day fell on a Sunday, in which case the deadline was May 2.

Moving Day (Quebec)

Moving Day (French: Fête du déménagement or journée nationale du déménagement) is a tradition, but not a legal requirement, in the province of Quebec, Canada, dating from the time when the province used to mandate fixed terms for leases of rental properties. It falls on July 1, which is also Canada Day.

History

The tradition began as a humanitarian measure of the French colonial government of New France, who forbade seigneurs, the semi-feudal landlords of the seigneuries, from evicting their tenant farmers before the winter snows had melted.. Historian Yvon Desloges notes that it was common to move in the spring in the 18th century, citing a 1750 bylaw by Intendant François Bigot. Additionally, Jean-Philippe Warren, a sociologist at Concordia University in Montreal, noted in a 2013 interview for The New York Times that French law in the 18th century set May 1 as the starting date for all legal agreements, including leases.

Later, this evolved into a requirement that urban leases begin on May 1 and end on April 30. In law, this date was set in the Civil Code of Lower Canada of 1866. May 1 thus became "Moving Day", the day during which renters who wished to vacate their current premises physically changed domiciles.