819 Parker Street

I used We Are All Here by Tomie dePaola, as my mentor text for this setting snapshot.

There I was, standing in 819 Parker Street. My mom had driven me, my older brother, two older sisters, our cat, a litter of kittens, and our dog all the way from Kansas to Ohio in a station wagon. It was late August and I would be starting first grade in a few short weeks. My dad came to our new house a month ago so he could start his new job at the university. Our house on Parker Street felt huge. We had five bedrooms! My sisters were already arguing over who would get what bedroom. I knew, since I was the youngest, that I would have the smallest room.

My new room was the perfect size for me. The closet was deep with double doors that swung out. There was a wide window with two smaller casement windows on either side that cranked open. From that window, I had a view of half of the front yard, the irises by the mulberry tree, the big oak tree that shaded most of the house, and our front porch. And if I looked sideways through the window at just the right angle, I could see all the way up our long front sidewalk, past the mailbox, across the street to a house that belonged to a little girl who would become my new best friend.