Mimi and Mama travel by bus from Berkeley to Vermont as strangers stare at them throughout the journey.

Mimi's classmates laugh when she announces she wants to become an astronaut during her first day of school.

Mimi discovers that only boys are allowed to take shop class while girls must take home economics.

Mimi decides to fill her journal with poems so her English teacher will understand who she truly is.

Mrs. Stanton encourages Mimi's dream of becoming an astronaut and tells the class about the Science Groove competition.

During April vacation, Timothy introduces himself to Mimi and helps her clean the turkey coop.

Timothy secretly teaches Mimi to use Mr. Dell's power tools so she can build her moon project.

Mrs. Stanton gives Mimi's moon project an A-plus and nominates it for the top judging group.

Someone steals the papier-mâché moon from Mimi's project before the Science Groove judges can evaluate it.

Mr. Pease returns Mimi's journal with an A-plus at the end of seventh grade.

The Oliver family votes unanimously to stay in Vermont instead of accepting a teaching offer in Texas.

Mimi and Stacey sit in the boys' shop class to protest gender discrimination and are suspended.

While Mimi is suspended, her classmates organize a peaceful sit-in by swapping shop and home economics classrooms.

The principal agrees to create a Carpenter's Club for girls and a Chef's Club for boys.

Mr. Dell takes Mimi up in his plane and lets her take the yoke, letting her fly.

Mimi moves from Berkeley to Vermont with her mother, immediately facing stares and prejudice from strangers along the way. On her first day of school, classmates laugh at her dream of becoming an astronaut, and she learns girls are banned from shop class, but she channels her frustrations into a year-long journal project and a Science Groove moon project. Timothy, Mr. Dell's grandnephew, secretly teaches Mimi to use power tools to build her project, which earns an A-plus and a top judging spot—until someone steals her moon and disqualifies her. At the end of seventh grade, Mimi earns an A-plus on her journal and the Oliver family votes to stay in Vermont rather than move to Texas. In eighth grade, Mimi and Stacey peacefully protest the shop class ban, get suspended, and inspire their classmates to organize their own sit-in, eventually winning after-school clubs for girls in woodworking and boys in cooking. The year closes with Mr. Dell taking Mimi flying in his plane and letting her take the controls, proving her dream of soaring is already underway.

The key moments driving Mimi's journey from outsider to astronaut hopeful.

A bus passenger insists Mama cannot be Mimi's real mother because they look too different.

Mimi discovers her large bedroom with sloped ceilings and window seats at the top of the stairs.

Mimi and Stacey are caught passing notes about the soda fountain and are sent to detention.

The man at the soda fountain rudely asks what Mimi is and seems shocked that she speaks English.

Mimi asks Mr. Dell to borrow his snowblower, but he refuses and tells her to go home.

Stacey admits she cannot invite Mimi to her birthday party because her mother would say no.

Mama attends the wives' tea at the college and befriends Dr. Haseda, a Japanese professor.

The guidance counselor refuses to accept Mimi's high spatial reasoning score and forces her to retake the test.

Papa secretly teaches Timothy to bake bread and make omelets in exchange for Timothy teaching Mimi woodworking.

Mimi and Stacey attend the Spring Fling dance, but no one talks to Mimi and she calls Papa to leave early.

Timothy receives word that his brother Wesley is missing in action in Vietnam and leaves Hillsborough.

A coyote attacks the turkey coop and Pattress is seriously injured saving the remaining turkeys.

Mama teaches Mimi's home economics class how to make sushi, sharing part of her Japanese culture.

Mrs. Stanton reveals she nominated Mimi for a fully funded scholarship to attend a summer space program camp.

Mimi's Japanese cousins from Berkeley arrive as a surprise to celebrate Christmas with the Oliver family.

Mimi's first year in Vermont is shaped by a series of encounters that reveal both the hostility and warmth of her new community. From the bus passenger who refuses to accept her mother as her real mother, to the soda jerk who is shocked Mimi speaks English, she faces constant prejudice rooted in her mixed heritage. Friendships with Stacey and Timothy slowly develop through shared detentions and secret lessons, even as Stacey's mother initially refuses to let Mimi attend her birthday party. Mama also gradually opens up, befriending Dr. Haseda at the wives' tea and eventually teaching sushi to Mimi's home economics class. A coyote attack on the turkey coop and Timothy's sudden departure after his brother goes missing in the war bring sharp emotional turning points in the fall. The year closes on hope as Mrs. Stanton reveals Mimi's scholarship to a summer space camp and her Japanese cousins arrive for a joyful surprise Christmas visit.

The relationships and setbacks that shaped Mimi's year in Vermont.

Mimi hides her traditional Japanese obento in her locker and eats tasteless cafeteria food on her first school day.

Karen and Kim sit with Mimi at lunch, asking invasive questions about her background and trying to touch her hair.

Mimi and the boy next door have a spontaneous snowball fight across the fence during February vacation.

Papa gives Mimi a Life magazine showing Earth photographed from the moon, offering her a new perspective on borders and belonging.

Timothy shows Mimi the moon through Mr. Dell's telescope and she whispers that she will one day touch it.

During the Science Groove display, a classmate asks whether Mimi's father built her moon project for her.

On Mimi's birthday, Timothy gives her a silver moon pendant necklace and reveals he found her stolen moon.

Mimi explains to Stacey that she was named after the cicada's song and compares herself to the magicicada.

Mimi and her family watch the Apollo 11 launch with Timothy while Mimi maps the astronauts' journey on butcher paper.

The Oliver family watches Neil Armstrong walk on the moon and Papa tells Mimi to remember this historic night.

Stacey's mother allows Stacey to invite Mimi over after meeting Mama at the college wives' tea.

The Oliver family delivers a Thanksgiving meal to Mr. Dell, who accepts it and nods in quiet thanks.

Timothy surprises Mimi at the second school dance by returning and giving her a limited-edition Apollo mission coin.

David attacks Victor at the dance for dancing with Stacey and Mimi kneels beside Victor to help him.

Mr. Dell visits the Oliver family on New Year's Day and confesses he dropped bombs over Tokyo during World War II.

Pool 3 focuses on the quieter but pivotal moments that shift Mimi's understanding of herself and the world around her. Early in the year, Mimi hides her obento and endures invasive questions from classmates who see only her ethnicity, but a spontaneous snowball fight with Timothy and her father's Life magazine showing Earth from the moon slowly change her outlook. Timothy shows Mimi the moon through Mr. Dell's telescope, sparking a defining connection between her dreams and reality, and on her birthday he gifts her a moon necklace and reveals he found the moon stolen from her project. Watching the Apollo 11 launch and moon landing with her family and Timothy marks the emotional peak of Mimi's year, while Stacey's mother's quiet acceptance of their friendship signals a meaningful social shift. Fall and winter bring the attack on Victor at the school dance and the Oliver family's small but deliberate act of kindness toward Mr. Dell on Thanksgiving, which begins to thaw a difficult relationship. The pool concludes with Mr. Dell's New Year's Day confession that he dropped bombs over Tokyo, finally explaining his behavior and allowing Mimi to understand that change, like cicadas, comes only when the time is right.