Sal is eager to start first grade, but nothing goes as she’d imagined after she and her best friend, Griff, get different teachers. Griff has Ms. Flowers, who is young, wears red shoes, and has a tape-measure belt. Sal (white) gets Ms. McCormick, who is older and wears shoes that look like “loaves of underbaked bread.” In the coming days at school, Sal longs to be in Ms. Flowers’s class, which is clearly more fun; she dresses like Ms. Flowers and looks for ways to get switched. An uncomfortable disagreement with Griff adds to Sal’s unhappiness. At home, Sal is frustrated by having to share her bedroom with little sister, Poppy, and jealous of big brother Billy’s job as a dog-sitter. Sal agrees to getting her often-tangled hair cut shorter, realizing it will give her one more thing in common with Ms. Flowers. Instead, it makes her question whether she’s still the same Sal she was before first grade. As in the earlier Miller Family books, Sal’s parents provide love, stability, and reassurance as she navigates unsettling emotional terrain. But it is Ms. McCormick who provides much-needed comfort when Sal is upset one morning, an encounter that leaves Sal feeling a meaningful connection to, and genuine warmth for, her teacher. Solidly grounded in Sal’s perspective, this tenderly funny story shines with its honest depiction of and respect for Sal’s messy feelings.

"Filled with emotionally complex characters and riveting, poignant moments, along with plenty of humor, Still Sal is not to be missed." —BookPage (starred review)

Kirkus Best Middle Grade Books of 2024!

A stand-alone companion to two-time Newbery Honor author Kevin Henkes’s award-winning and acclaimed The Year of Billy Miller. With themes of family, friendship, and resilience, this very funny school story focuses on Billy’s little sister, Sal, and her first day of school. For fans of Ramona, Ivy + Bean, and Dory Fantasmagory. 

Sal has been looking forward to first grade for a long time. But her excitement quickly turns to disappointment when she learns that her best friend, Griff, is in the other first-grade classroom and has the most popular teacher. Then Sal’s name is spelled wrong on her name tag, she trips in front of the cool fifth graders, and her self-portrait doesn’t turn out the way she wanted it to. In fact, everything about school is an absolute disaster. Poor Sal!

Luckily for Sal, she has understanding parents, a terrific new teacher, and empathetic friends who remind her that it takes time to adjust to change. And sure enough, after a few days, Sal feels like herself again.

Still Sal highlights themes of family, friendship, social and emotional growth, resilience, and adapting to change. The fourth stand-alone book in the Miller Family sequence includes black-and-white illustrations by Caldecott Medal winner Kevin Henkes on almost every page and is an excellent choice for early elementary grades, for readers ready for a short novel, and for family and classroom read-alouds.