Everything Naomi Loved

This richly crafted portrayal of community and friendship is an ode to those most affected by changing cities.

11th Street: it wasn't pretty, but it was home. Naomi spends her afternoons scooting down the streets and drawing with chalk on the sidewalks with her best friend Ada, getting a slice of pizza and visiting her neighbor Mister Ray at his auto shop, and dreaming of fantastic worlds within her own.

But her beloved neighborhood is changing. Trees are chopped down, flashy new buildings spring up, and one by one Naomi's neighbors are forced to move away. Faced with the rapid transformation of her once-familiar city block, Naomi turns to painting murals to preserve her favorite 11th Street memories. When something we love goes away we paint it on the wall so it's always with us, Mister Ray tells her, and Naomi discovers that no matter how her world changes, as long as she has places and people to love, she will always have a home.