The Girl Across The Way
(originally: The Cat Across The Way)
Ann Huston, il. John Fernie
1968, Scholastic Book Services

10-year-old Lacey is miserable in her new life in Cleveland. She misses her small-town home, she misses her best friend Pam, and she misses her pony. The city is ugly and unfamiliar, the school big and confusing, and her new friendship with fellow horse-nut Rosette is bumpy. But her father's old job in Three Corners is gone, and her family must stay in the city. Slowly, Lacey acclimates. And strangely, it is the big yellow cat she watches out her bedroom window who helps give her unhappy troubles a good resolution.

Nicely written and always in character as the point-of-view of a little girl. One of the last generation of those older children's books focused on what were once considered normal child concerns - friendships, family, neighborhood - before we entered the era of 'problem novels.'