Real Friends

I’m not into the whole graphic novel thing, but I got this for FREE from Goodreads, and I have a deep and abiding love for my spirit animal, Shannon Hale. I still wanna be her when I grow up. This book makes me even more convinced because it seems like every girls’ story from elementary school. And I look at my daughters and think that it is their story as well. Who hasn’t felt bullied or lonely as a child? Who can’t remember deciding that the friends we’ve got aren’t working for us any more?

We hope Shannon Hale writes a couple of sequels to Real Friends and Ms. Pham illustrates them. The first sequel we would love to exist would be for the friendships she experienced in middle school and the other sequel for the friendships she experienced in high school. This book was an honest portrayal of how friendships can be in elementary school and why some kids are the way they are with their friends. If you have children who are navigating friendships, this would be a great book for both you and your children to read.

I loved this book. It brought back so many memories of my grade school years. I felt like the author was writing my story. The plot and characters are well thought out. The story will make you laugh, cheer, and sometimes make you cry. The art work is fantastic. I highly recommend this book. I received this book for free from a contest on Goodreads.

This is not a tender and wistful look at developing friendships. This book is a second grade reading level and its content contains abuse by a sibling, spitting in the face by a school mate, name calling "you are worthless" and religious overtones. The writing is graphic novel style which was not stated and the story is fragmented and difficult to keep the characters straight. Extremely disappointed with this book.

With brilliant illustrations and relatable content, this graphic novel is great for middle school girls. This book teaches young girls that even through tough times and mean kids, there are nice friends out there that will accept you for who you are.

This was a purchase for a tween and I read it first and found it questionable in a few areas. It seems to be autobiographical but the material needs updating. The protagonist was playing cheerleaders whose goal is to become desirable and then say no. The uselessness of the parents isn't giving kids an option to get adult help, since it didn't work for the protagonist a child reading will reference that in dealing w their own family. Today few families have 6 kids and the family dynamics are lost on most families today. The moral is to find the cool kids and mirror them , and stay unchanged.

The autobiography assignment. I don’t pretend to know precisely why teachers give it out or what they hope child readers will get out of it. About ten years ago, when I was a children’s librarian in New York City, it was to be feared. A small child would walk into my room, belly up to the reader’s advisory desk, and ask for an autobiography. You mean a biography? No (of course not, silly librarian). An AUTObiography, see? And there, clear as crystal, was the printed assignment. So like any good librarian I’d take the child to the biography/autobiography section and we’d start to hunt and peck. As it happens, middle grade authors of books for kids really like writing autobiographies. So depending on the age of the child I’d load them down with “Knots in My Yo-Yo String” by Jerry Spinelli or “Marshfield Dreams” by Ralph Fletcher or maybe one of the Beverly Cleary ones like “A Girl From Yamhill”. Not like there was a lot to pick and choose from. Then, like magic, something changed overnight. Authors started writing more autobiographies and, glory be, they were done in a graphic novel format!!! “Smile” and “Sisters” by Raina Telgemeier, “Sunny Side Up” by Jenni Holm, “El Deafo” by Cece Ball, and “The Dumbest Idea Ever” by Jimmy Gownley. Sure, there aren’t a ton of these books out there, but they sure pep up the autobiography assignment, I can assure you of that. Now Shannon Hale joins the illustrious crew with a book that zeroes in a single topic: friendship. The good. The bad. The seriously-why-is-this-so-freaking-DIFFICULT!?

When you’re really little, making friends is easy. You sit next to someone in Kindergarten and suddenly they’re your best friend for all time. For Shannon, Adrienne was that friend. Yet when third grade rolled around, things started to change. Suddenly Shannon, Adrienne, a popular girl named Jen, and a whole bunch of other girls are in The Group. That includes Jenny, Jen’s best friend and a dyed-in-the-wool bully to Shannon. Figuring out if she’s out or in can be exhausting for Shannon, and that’s before you even consider her violently unpredictable older sister Wendy or her own OCD. But that’s the thing about true friends sometimes. They sure as heck don’t come easy.

In her Author’s Note at the end Shannon says that “Real Friends it he story I’ve been telling myself about my elementary school years,” yet also acknowledges that “memories aren’t 100 percent accurate.” She mentions that the idea of writing a memoir was a relatively recent one considering the fact that from a drama perspective she had a pretty stable home life. That, naturally, is the allure. With “Real Friends” Hale zeroes in on a single aspect of childhood: friendship. It’s something a lot of kids have to contend with. In her own Author’s Note, artist LeUyen Pham says her heart, “is still convinced that somehow you [Shannon] crawled inside my memories and handpicked all these events and feelings and insecurities from my childhood and called them your own.” I think that’s the true allure of the title. This is a mirror for a lot of kids who are struggling with friendships. They’re going to see what LeUyen saw and feel it too. There was a movement not too long ago where people on YouTube let teens know that “it gets better”. Shannon’s message is the same. As she puts it, “If you haven’t found your ‘group’ yet, hang in there. Your world will keep growing larger and wider. You deserve to have real friends, the kind who treat you well and get how amazing you are.”

But how do you do it? How do you take faulty memories and etched-in-stone feelings from the past and turn them into a book? On a recent episode of the podcast RadioLab, a lot of discussion was made of the fact that to even access memories, a person needs a lot of imagination. The same could be said of conjuring up memories for a graphic novel. Hindsight may be 20/20 but memory is 3/10. Sometimes it’s necessary to plug the details up with creativity. In a way, Shannon probably had a lot of this book mapped out in her head already. Dwell on something enough and you turn it into a story, complete with dramatic shifts in tension and morality. I particularly appreciated the moments when Shannon, the character, was in the wrong. This book doesn’t usually break down into “good” and “bad” people, but rather into the casual indifferent cruelties of childhood. The off-handed comment you don’t even remember saying that burned a small hole into your friend’s soul. The fact that Shannon’s just as capable of this as anyone gives the book a bit of extra weight.

There’s one other aspect of the book that sets it apart from the pack. Heck, sets it apart from pretty much every children’s graphic novel from a trade publisher I’ve ever seen: religion. Shannon grew up in a Mormon household and so religion is just a regular event in her life. We see prayer, Sunday scriptures, and the occasional Jesus cameo when Shannon is feeling particularly down in the dumps. The only other middle grade graphic novel (comics for 9-12 year olds) I’ve ever seen from a large publisher that incorporates worship as seamlessly would be the books in the “Hereville” series by Barry Deutsch, and that was Hasidic. Someone once commented that the only sitcom you see on your television these days where a family regularly goes to church is “The Simpsons”. In children’s books that topic is almost entirely regulated to small religious presses. So I appreciate that “Real Friends” doesn’t shy away from something that, for a lot of people, is a regular part of life.

And now, a word in praise of LeUyen Pham. Pham and Hale are hardly strangers to one another. For years now they’ve collaborated together on the delightful Zorro-esque "Princess in Black" series. That said, I haven’t seen Ms. Pham do a graphic novel since she worked on the far older “Prince of Persia” back in 2008. They take a bit of time to do, after all. What’s more, all the autobiographical graphic novels I mentioned at the beginning of this review were written and illustrated by the same person (always excepting “Sunny Side Up” which is a brother/sister team). If you bring in an artist to basically illustrate your life, you want someone you can trust. Good thing Ms. Pham is a stickler with accuracy. When she illustrated the nonfiction biography about Paul Erdos “The Boy Who Loved Math” she went so far as to clarify in her Illustrator's Note at the end that she had to imagine the physical appearance of the boy’s nanny. “Real Friends” isn’t nonfiction in the strict sense of the word. Characters are combined, timelines are moved up, and names are definitely changed. Still, just looking at the setting you really feel you’re in the 1980s. Pham’s attention to detail is given full reign, whether you’re checking out the computers, the clothes (oh the clothes, the clothes, the clothes) or even the furniture. Not that it’s all coke bottle glasses and Thompson Twins. There’s enough pretend and imagination in these storylines to allow Pham to really stretch her muscles and engage in spy sequences, fantastical journeys, and even the occasional Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.

In many ways the book “Real Friends” feels the closest to in terms of content and tone is “El Deafo” by Cece Bell. Both books are quests for true friendship. Both take place in the past (though Bell’s is probably set eight or so years before Hale’s). And both are autobiographical memoirs that look at bad friendships, hurt feelings, and the ultimate reward that all kids can relate to: a good friend. A fun strong book to show kids that even when you haven’t got a real friend in the world, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

For ages 9-12.

This is not a very nice book. The girls are catty and mean to each other. I skimmed through it and decided not to give to my daughter because I thought it was a bad example of how girl friends should treat each other. Not the influence it want to give.

Drawings were pretty good, and it was decent attempt to try and address the complications of girl friendships at this age. Story line was a little frenetic, with back and forth between home problems (abuse?) and friendship problems. Also a Mormon influence, which I was unprepared for. With those factors, I don't think I'd recommend it.

Bought this on a recommendation from a friend and my daughter likes it ok. I'm more disappointed in the fact that the heavy religious elements were left out of the descriptions. That really should be noted.

Until now, I've been a huge fan of Shannon Hale's books - especially the Princess in Black series. However, I am writing this review as a buyer for our school library. In the first 2 pages, Shannon is portrayed as a clingy toddler who's not worried about friends because she has Mom. In Kinder, she finds a new friend and bonds with her over being Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, but by 2nd grade the same girl becomes popular and is desired by everyone, including a boy who forcibly kisses Adrienne while another boy physically restrains Shannon as she tries to help her friend and yells "Let me go!".

When Shannon becomes regularly bullied and told to "not be so sensitive" by her peers (a theme that carries throughout the book), she resorts to stomachaches to avoid school. Her older sister also bullies her at home and is portrayed as a bear (literally), while the mom passively tells them to "work it out." Half way through the book, when Shannon is feeling alone and friendless, Jesus (the religious figure) appears and tells her that he likes her. She also imagines dying and running away as options to dealing with the bullying.

While the book does have a happy ending, the story arc feels one dimensional and stereotypical, especially with the mean girls slant. We have a number of books that deal with sensitive issues already in the library but this isn't one I feel comfortable adding to the mix unless it was in the context of a larger class discussion.

My 7 year old got this book because one of her friends has it and my daughter loves reading, she just reads through everything and we welcome any suggestions. Never again will we take a new recommendation without scanning through it first....shame on us.
The subject matter of this book is way beyond a 7 or 8 year olds mental development- please strongly reconsider if your child is this age.
The main character has crippling anxiety and no wonder given the life the author has constructed for her- her friends referred to as The Group in this story are constantly bickering and insulting and manipulating each other, there is a part where they rate each other on notebook paper on looks and personality, teachers are belittled multiple times, there is sexual assault (a boy holding one girl while the other kisses the other girl, and they plan it in the scene right before) where there is only imagined retaliation by the main character (a super hero scene) but in the story of the book just following that scene the girl said she wanted him to kiss her (wow! After his friend physically held your friend and forced himself on you??!) there is physical abuse by the older sister on multiple occasions graphically illustrated and also intense emotional put-downs, she imagines her own death—- this book is a nightmare. My daughter kept wanting me near her as she was reading, I didn’t put it together until she said she wanted to read while she was sitting on my lap and then I saw. Of course I could not take it away, she was already 3/4 of the way through. She knew and I knew it was scaring her but to take it away would make it more desirable so I sat there full of pain while she read it. I am just.... am pretty astonished if you cannot tell. I didn’t even get to the aspects of religion in it. Just read it first... with a child’s eyes. They may want it because their friends have it but wow!

Going into this I had no idea that it's a memoir of Shannon's from when she was in elementary school! And oh man, does she ever know how to capture those feelings of isolation and desperation when it comes to those ever-tentative first female friendships. Honestly, the group dynamics of young girls are positively MACHIAVELLIAN. Personally, I could relate to her anxiety and mild OCD; I suffered from both of these as a kid too, although I was never diagnosed, not even when I developed a spastic colon from stress in high school.

TMI? Sorry about that. But you should definitely read this, and have your daughters read this. It's an excellent starting point to talk about developing empathy and self-awareness, especially when others are treating you badly. (Kudos to young Shannon for setting boundaries with her bully while also showing that it was a difficult thing to do even it was also the right thing to do.)

Excellent middle grade graphic memoir for fans of Raina Telgemeier, Cece Bell and Victoria Jamieson. As a child of the 80s myself, I really appreciated all of the 80s references, but the intended audience probably won’t catch those. They will simply focus on this being an incredibly realistic and heartfelt account of family and friendship (and lack thereof) in the late elementary years. All of Hale’s experiences resonated with me, and I know that every 3rd-6th grader I hand this to will absolutely love it. I really appreciated that Hale included her experiences with anxiety and mild-OCD, and also that she made mention of her family’s religion since it was such a large part of her upbringing. I found out in the very back of the acknowledgements that Hale grew up Mormon – it pays to read the back-matter! Required purchase for elementary and middle school libraries.

I received a digital ARC of this book for review – all opinions are my own.

*This review was originally published on RachelPoli.com.

FIRST THOUGHTS

I have seen this book floating around the book blogs of the WordPress world. I love a good graphic novel so when I found it at the bookstore, I decided to pick it up.

PLOT

This is a fictionalized memoir based on the author’s childhood. A lot of it is true, but she fictionalized some things to make the story flow better. We follow Shannon as a young girl and watch her grow up as she tries to hold onto friendships and figure out who she is.

Her best friend is Adrienne, but then they meet a group of girls who follow Jen around. And they’re not nice all the time. Shannon doesn’t know whether they like her or not, but she still hangs out with them because she doesn’t have anyone else.

This is a good story all middle schoolers should read. It teaches an important lesson about being nice to others and also that it’s okay to not have a large group of friends. It’s okay to not be “popular.”

CHARACTERS

All the characters were portrayed well. I could relate with Shannon so much. She was being bullied, she didn’t have a lot of friends, and she developed anxiety along the way.

Adrienne was a good character as well. She was nice to Shannon but was also friends with Jen. When Jen was mean, Adrienne didn’t do anything because she didn’t want Jen to be mean to her in return. It was a vicious cycle. The other members of “The Group” were pretty much the same way.

It was typical behavior of middle-schoolers. But Shannon managed to push through.

WRITING STYLE

The writing was well done, using a good amount of narrative and dialogue. The art style was great too. It really made the story, especially when Shannon was using her imagination.

It was a quick read being a graphic novel, but it was enjoyable (and relatable) enough that I was able to read it in one sitting.

OVERALL

This is a great story with an important lesson on bullying and just being true to who you are. Everyone should read this, no matter what age.

Favorite Quote:

“All a person needs is one good friend.” -Shannon Hale, Real Friends

I highly recommend NOT allowing your child to read this. The colorful cover and back would have you assume it's a liberating, uplifting story about a girl discovering what true friendship is. This is NOT the case. Whatever positive messages the author thought she might be giving is totally lost in the toxic tone pervading the entire memoir influenced story. There is a disturbing scene that could definitely be interpreted as suicidal ideation and could potentially influence readers to have similar thoughts. There are numerous musings of the protagonist that give the reader very negative messages, which would lead any fragile mind to assume it's okay to let people assault/abuse you yet not okay to have what are presented as "unappealing" features (i.e glasses, red hair, secondhand clothes). Further, it seems like the main point a child would take away from the story is that they should grow up fast and get "cool" (know what's "in", stop playing with dolls, etc.) in order to be accepted by the "cool" kids/get in friendships with older kids. This is not an empowering read AT ALL. I truly believe it could be a damaging read to many kids, especially those that are already feeling "lost" navigating emerging/present tweendom.

The cover page showed real potential with true to life characters, and Shannon as the main character who has all of these problems mounting on her shoulders; which was a huge thing for a small child. And I liked the richly graphic use of pictures. REAL FRIENDS by Shannon Hale, told of a sad situation that cropped up for Shannon. This would be a sticky situation for any child to go through.
One of the unique things about the story was, it seemed as though I was reading it like a comic book filled with cartoon characters, with yelling and cruel words flying across the pages, leaving poor Shannon frightened in her tracks. So she either ran or cried, or both. This could cause a traumatic experience that might follow a child to adult hood. I felt sorry for the child Shannon. I wanted to help her to get away from the bully, or bullies. Who are her real friends? Will she ever find a true friend that would be willing to stick by her? An interesting situation popped up during the story. Why would Shannon's sister, instead of coming to her rescue, try to knock her down with words? or better yet, slap her and then yell at her? What about her friends at school? Why didn't they want her following them or hanging out with them? What was it about Shannon that kept her from getting and keeping friends? This book brought to light some things that could actually happen to children and how they might face each situation differently. The richly graphic use of pictures was the reason I gave the story four stars, and I also liked the characters, especially Shannon. I would recommend this story to all grade school children and teenagers. Interesting read!

This is NOT a gentle little story for kids about a group of best girl friends meeting in a frilly pink bedroom to share snacks and plan fun adventures together.

Instead, this book is pretty serious testimony that the world's most bloodthirsty monsters do NOT always have claws or fangs.

In fact, some of the most hateful witches alive actually have the sweetest and most angelic-looking faces of little girls still in school.

Innocent, mild-mannered Shannon Hale (the heroine as well as the author of this book) learns the hard way that cold-blooded creatures are bred without anyone's knowledge in homes (including her own!) where there are TOO MANY hungry kids running around and in schools where the prettiest, richest, and most popular girl is singled out to be a walking status symbol by TOO MANY hopeful friend-wannabes (and this is happening in THIRD GRADE, too!)

Taking place in a bygone period from the late 1970s through 1980s, Shannon struggles valiantly to find a good friend, but she keeps getting caught up in a very catty drama à la "Mean Girls", where all little girls in her class ruthlessly compete to cozy up to the so-called "princess" and also develop a hive mind to keep each other in their place, too. Even worse, one of the girls in this kiddie clique has became a backstabbing bully out to make Shannon's life as miserable as possible. All because the poor girl has actually befriended her rival's coveted prize, of course.

If that isn't all, Shannon is also terrorized by an abusive older sister in her own house! So she bravely copes by counting things and escaping into her superheroine/superspy/revenge fantasies. Or she gets literally sick.

Of course, it turns out that both Jenny and Wendy (who give Shannon a hard time) had been unhappy little girls who had trouble finding friends, too. Aw, sorry to hear this, but if Jenny's issues aren't swiftly dealt with, she may one day brutally MURDER Shannon with an accomplice's help in a high school restroom FOR LIKING THE SAME BOY (yes, this unfortunate incident did happen recently in real life, BTW.)

The other "villain" who also seems to want Shannon dead and cold, Wendy herself could have been on her way to juvenile delinquency when she was an angry, embittered teenager (or even forced prostitution if the modeling agency she was running away to didn't turn out to be what it seemed to be!) Naturally, the blame lies on all the stuck-up girls at Wendy's school who don't want anything to do with her in the first place. Right?

And people (including the mother, sisters, and friends) who keep telling Shannon (or some other victim) to "suck it up" may ask "WHY?" the loudest if a tragedy actually happens. We ALREADY have problems with school shootings and youth suicides today - especially if they are likely caused by the way arrogant, selfish kids treat each other these days!

An excellent eye-opener to warn all young girls who simply want to make friends, of course.

But with all the name-calling, talking behind back one's back, and even physical assaults, who needs enemies? :P

(I only went thru a few pages, so no comment on content.) The problem is that @the store delivers the book in a fixed-size -- non-expandable(!!) -- image format. Worse, the images are 2-up landscape, i.e., every image contains two pages.

On my 5" Android, this is nearly unreadable without a magnifying glass.

I believe it will be just fine on a tablet, but it seems a shame not to offer the choice of a 1-per-page portrait format for people using phones, even just to check out a sample, as I did.

Also, the store could fix the technical problem with its Kindle reader for Android and allow resizing of the images, as every other document-viewing app in existence does.

Oh, Kindle on Android does have a half-baked feature where you can click on the image and one small section is magnified. But then the top and bottom menu/status bars pop up and overlay 30% of the screen. And when you click anywhere to dismiss that, your magnified selection changes. A good demonstration of the importance of doing usability testing.

Shannon Hale relates her elementary years, her ups and downs in finding, keeping, and recognizing good friends. She also shares about dealing with emotional bullies at school, anxiety, and an older sister who took out some of her own frustrations on Shannon.

So if you were never at the top of the popularity echelon in elementary school, you should totally identify with this graphic novel memoir from Shannon Hale. I certainly identified with a lot of what Shannon went through. My home life was not as rocky, but elementary school often felt like a minefield relationship-wise. Sometimes you made it through the day swimmingly, and sometimes kids mocked your looks or left you out of their activities. For kids currently in elementary, they should find in Shannon a very relatable character. Someone who understands their heartaches and triumphs, and who can offer them a bit of hope that even if elementary is hard at times, it is survivable. And let’s face it, many of the kids who struggle the most with navigating relationships are introverts who might not share with any adult about the heartaches they are daily facing. Though the setting is a few decades ago, the basics of her story still resonate powerfully through any age. So Shannon may be the voice of wisdom and hope to these introverts’ unspoken needs. As an adult, I appreciated her message about boundaries in friendship, information about anxiety, and that she eventually realized what was behind her sister’s issues and they became friends. And let’s not forget Pham’s illustrations which are – as always – fantastic. They fit the tone of the book perfectly. I especially loved how Pham depicted Hale’s imaginary games with her friends, hinting at talents that would eventually help Shannon become the amazing author she is today. Overall, highly recommended for elementary libraries – ours will be buying multiple copies to satisfy the demand there will be for this - and I’ll probably also purchase a few copies for middle school too even if the characters are in elementary because it’s a recent shared experience for middle schoolers and they love graphic novels and Shannon Hale. Also, please hand this to any elementary/middle school student you know who struggles with relationship issues at school. Hopefully, they will find solace from it.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Some physical and emotional bullying from an older sibling and emotional bullying from classmates.

I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Before Shannon Hale became a New York Times bestselling author of books like Goose Girl and Princess Academy, she was a girl growing up as the middle child of a family in Utah. She had a great imagination and liked to make up games to play with her friends. But she was also low on the list of popularity among the friends she hung out with. And her older sister was often mean to her.

Hale has written about her experience growing up in the graphic novel, Real Friends, illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Hale belonged to a group of friends not unlike lots of groups in elementary school, with one person at the top and everyone else jockeying to be closest to her. Sometimes she hid in the bushes when other girls said mean things to her. When she finally got the courage to leave the group, she spent lots of lonely days on her own.

But Hale believed in her own ability to make up games and tell stories, and she eventually made friends who were happy with her as she was. It’s a tale that will encourage others who may feel like outcasts or those who are being bullied by the very people they call friends. In the end, Hale finds out who her real friends are and even finds a way to connect with her sister.

Reading Real Friends could be a way for moms and daughters to open a line of communication about situations at home and school. I highly recommend it for mother-daughter book clubs and readers aged 8 to 12.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Yes, even though the book isn’t supposed to be out, the store already send me my pre-order and I received it today.

This was brilliant, just as I hoped this would be. Shannon Hale is one of my favourite writers, so I was delighted that she wrote a memoir in the way of a graphic novel. It tells all about her childhood, about her family, about friendships, about anxiety, and much more.

I loved Shannon’s imagination, when things got tough, or just while playing with friends. She thought of the most wonderful stories. She was destined to be writer, to write down those stories that came to her.

Her home situation, especially Wendy and how she treats Shannon was pretty severe. I didn’t quite like how the mom just stopped helping/mediating between the two of them. Because she felt it would only make it worse. So you just let your oldest daughter hit her sister, say terrible things about her? Even in presence of friends? What? No. Just no.

The situations at school did seem quite familiar to me, I may not have had a big group of people, but I did have a best friend and she was also just like Adrienne.

Jenny turned out to be quite the nasty person. Spreading lies, making sure that Shannon wasn’t liked in the group, purposely hiding appointments or things the group agreed on. I was really happy with how Shannon handled it in the end. Go girl! I am sure if you had answered yes she would just have continued ruining your life.

At times, and this is probably because I am reading this, and not actually being there, but at times I could see when situations would end up wrong. The girls would be talking about x topic, and Shannon would bump in with something of her own. For instance making a joke. At times it worked, but at times it just didn’t.

You can also see the anxiety that often ruled Shannon’s life. From counting the stones in the hallway, to counting trees. To stomach aches. In that way her mom was pretty awesome, she noticed something was wrong and tried to help her daughter out.

The ending was really sweet, and I was happy with how the book ended. I also liked the ending notes by Shannon Hale. How she explained about the book, about several events, about characters. That definitely added something extra to the whole book. She also added some of her childhood photographs.

Of course the book is entirely illustrated by LeUyen Pham, I am really happy she illustrated this book, as I love her other works she does for Shannon Hale.

All in all, a highly recommended book.

Fantastic - My two daughters ages 7 & 11, both read an d re-read this numerous times, often fighting over who's turn it was to have the book. My son, 10, also furtively read it, then not-so-furtively re-read it, joining the "who-gets-the-book" argument. All of my kids had already joined the graphic novel craze, but usually I'm not into them. However I wanted to see what the fuss was over this book so I read it, and I agree: it's a fast, engaging and relatable tale about a girl on the fringe of the cool kids club who is mistreated and made to feel like a loser in middle school. Most parents can relate to these feelings, having lived through a similar situation themselves, and I think it was eye-opening for my kids to realize that this aspect of school socialization is universal. Yes there is some Jesus stuff in there, which I could do without, but really it doesn't take away from the overall story. This is a memoir and as such the author is describing how she sometimes turned to her faith to get her through tough times. As a non-religious family we didn't mind. I highly recommend this to kids ages 7-adult.

Review first posted on Girl Who Reads. An ARC was provided for an honest review.

Shannon and Adrienne had always been friends, which helped when Shannon felt shy. Adrienne later became friends with Jen and The Group. Some of the girls would be willing to do anything to be closer to Jen in The Group, even bully others not as popular.

This is a very real and sometimes painful look at elementary school years for girls. It's soul crushing to not be popular, and Shannon Hale drew on her own memories to tell this story. That gives it the emotional resonance for the reader, who inevitably would have felt the same growing up.

LeUyen Pham's art fits very naturally with the narrative, giving each character their childlike appearance and mannerisms without seeming "cartoony." We don't see the motivations for the other characters unless they tell Shannon, who is the point of view we're following.

My daughter also read this book and enjoyed the artwork. Shannon's story really resonated with her, and she particularly liked the hopeful ending. The characters felt very real and approachable to her. This is a middle-grade book, but even older readers will appreciate it and its honesty.

Real Friends by Shannon Hale
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Best For: 8 to 13 years old, 3rd to 7th grade
Worth a Check Out: Yes.
Buy It or Not: If you have a girl, definitely Yes.
Read Aloud: Graphic Novels aren't the best for read alouds, but you could read it along side your daughter as a nightly read aloud.
Lesson Ideas: Friendship, Bullying, Sibling Relationships, Anxiety

Real Friends gets 4.5 out of 5 stars in my book review. This book is very much a memoir about Shannon Hale's childhood. It quickly goes through the elementary school years of her life. I love that she went through those years quickly. The one thing I feel could've been done better was the storyline. I realize this is a memoir, but a well done memoir still has a great storyline.

The lack of storyline is my main issue with Real Friends. Though, the messages this book teaches in a quick graphic novel format still makes a great addition to any elementary school library, middle school collection, and many home libraries.

More detailed review found at AlohamoraOpenaBook

This is a wonderful contemporary middle-grade autobiographical graphic novel about the author's childhood struggles with making friends and fitting in. My 8 year-old son read it, loved it, and read it over and over. As a middle child with an unpredictable older sibling, he identified with the main character so hard. I read the book so we could discuss it. I loved the parts that show the character's pretend adventures. When my 11 year-old son hear us talking about the story, he read it too so he could tell us his favorite parts. He totally got the parts about toxic social groups and giving up friendships that are hurtful. Shannon Hale continues to be one of my favorite authors; she can do no wrong.

I am a teacher and I definitely recommend this book. It is a well-written and honest look at what "friendships" are often like in upper elementary and middle school, especially between girls. Don't judge it because the characters say "mean" things. It is an opportunity to have an honest talk with your child about the behavior of others and their own choice of words and actions. The book has given many of our students insight and understanding into the difficult relationships that are experienced in school. You are doing a disservice to your child if you only let him or her read sugar-coated books. Books equip a child for real life and are one of the safest ways to experience and the world.

Bought this for my 7 year old daughter, hoping it would give her a framework for dealing with the complications of friendships at that age. We both really enjoyed it, and it gave us an opportunity to have a conversation about friendships and choosing how we want to be treated. Highly recommend.

Really good treatment of friendship in elementary school. There's a lot in here -- individual friends and friend groups, people moving away or changing schools, being in different classes, jealousy, hiding parts of yourself.

Loved seeing Shannon come up with games and stories. Those were one of her strengths on her own and in early friendships, but we also see her knowledge of that strength be something of a flaw.

I knew a lot going in about the friendship story here, but I wasn't expecting the bits of really important family dynamics (especially sibling dynamics).

I appreciated the casual inclusion of religion.

My librarian friend suggested this after my post about Sunny Side Up. So I ran right down to my library and picked it up. The Chippewa River District Library rocks!!!

I didn't even ask Ivan to try this, I just handed it to him. And he read it in the car on the way home. He read it at bedtime. He even took it to the bathroom and finished it around midnight. He came back and was trying to show me that it was a true story. He was so excited by this story.

He told me I should read it, too. So when I took my friend's boy to his music lesson, I read this while I waited. This girl is about my age, say 10 or 11 in 1984. There was so much I could relate to. Difficulty with "friends", glasses, having a hard time relating to people.

This is a memoir, "just like El Deafo!" - Ivan, age 8. We both wholeheartedly recommend this book.

This is a book about the complexities of female friendship in middle school, but is ALSO about sibling abuse, which I did not know going into it. Hale doesn't call it abuse (I believe she refers to it as bullying), but she is legit scared of her older sister, and her sister goes beyond being mean to her.

I really liked this, and I would have loved it, but the ending was pretty abrupt. The author's note at the end explain/fills in the gaps, though, which works really well. I'm just not sure most kids would read it.

LeUyen Pham's illustrations are PHENOMENAL as usual. I really love her style.

Bought this book for my 8yo son. His first comment was: I don't want a book about GIRLS! This isn't a book about girls, it's a book about friendships, and once he got into it, it became one of his favorites. It's relatable for any kid struggling to find their place. The story follows Shannon through school as friends come and go and discovers that she's sometimes "in" and sometimes "out" of the group, for reasons she can't always understand. The story also explores sibling relationships, especially the powerful presence of an older sister who could sometimes be her best friend and other times her greatest tormentor--often without warning. Real Friends is a fragile and friendly exploration of heart break, anxiety, and the joy of friendships.

Real Friends is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel about a girl who is trying to find her place at school and at home. Dealing with subjects like bullying, anxiety, and OCD, Real Friends is a must read for any child or parent who is going through something similar.

I think that this should be a book that every parent should have their children between 2nd and 5th grade read. Shannon could be any child, in any school with these very real problems and I think it would do a child good to read a graphic novel where the character is going through the same things as they are. That way they can see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that one day, those that were picking on them eventually end up in their shoes.

Shannon did come across as someone who would do anything to stay in “The Group”. Anything and when I was reading those chapters where she was doing that, I wanted to cry for her. She was trying to so hard and they just treated her like she was invisible. But as she got older and more mature, she slowly began to realize that it wasn’t her. I think that when she broke up with “The Group” and started making friends with the older kids in her grade (she was in a 5th grade/6th-grade split class), that she realized her worth.

Adrienne and Jen annoyed the ever-living out of me. Adrienne for not being a true friend to Shannon. She allowed those girls, well mainly Jen, to bully Shannon, spread lies about her and just make Shannon’s life miserable. What really got me annoyed with her was when she allowed her brother to scream at Shannon and then agreed with some of what he said.

And don’t get me started on Jen. What a miserable, unhappy girl. She found an easy victim in Shannon and took every opportunity to let her know how unpopular she was or how lucky she was being allowed to hang out with them. I will say that I agreed with Shannon’s decision at the end of the book. I know the author had some reserves about writing that part of the story the way she wrote it and I will say….I agreed with the way it was written.

The drama at home was pretty hard to read too. Shannon’s sister, Wendy, was portrayed as a bear for most of the book and she was so mean to her. I was a little shocked that there was physical violence shown. That being Wendy smacking Shannon around and I started to get angry at Wendy. But, the more the story went on, the more that the author let little things slip about Wendy. About her struggles with bullies and making friends at school. Which made me understand why she acted the way she acted.

The end of the book was very well written and I loved the afterward that the author wrote.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Cute. I wish the story had been longer and that some things in the afterward text had been covered in the actual comic. I wonder how kids who aren't Christian/Mormon will feel about the prayer scenes and Jesus making a couple of appearances. I didn't read comics at this age but I think it could be alienating. That said this book has a lot of honesty and heart. Great dynamic artwork. I liked that the kids played make believe though some of those spreads ran a bit long. Great ending.

For this review, I’ll share my two recent Facebook posts:

Just read Shannon Hale’s REAL FRIENDS. Oh. My. Goodness.
Who knew cartoon people could bring back the horrors of adolescent nerdhood?! I’m going to buy it and make my elementary age children memorize each frame. Maybe also act it out for Family Home Evening.

Please read this book. Then make your kids read it. Daily.
So much pain. Maybe it makes us stronger. Maybe it cripples us emotionally.
Ms. Hale has risen above it and given us a tool to teach our kids.

I think this is a fabulous book for a wide age range of kids. My 7-year-old enjoys graphic novels so we checked this out of the library. I did not realize the powerful truths this book would lay bare. As an adult, my heart ached at times from the honesty. The desire to fit in and not be alone is so strong at that age.

The most amazing part of the writing was that Hale did not make herself out to be the shining example friendship perfection. The way Shannon treated Tammy was definitely not a shining moment. Surprisingly, after we finished the book my daughter went back and read that section again asking, "Why didn't Shannon hug her." This gave us the opportunity to talk about how we can hurt people just by being thoughtless. Shannon was not mean like Jenny just thoughtless sometimes like when she told Adrienne that she did all the typing when then wrote stories together because she, Shannon, had the "better ideas." It takes maturity and empathy to understand how what we say and do might affect others. As adults we often still struggle with this but at that age it is still an emerging skill for sure.

So many lessons packed in this little book; I think this might be a good book to read again and again just to remind us.

Hale never disappoints and this graphic novel is no exception. All kids will be able to relate to the struggle to find true friends, and this tale is told with honesty and humor. Hale doesn't shy away from showing that the main character can be obnoxious and bossy at times. But she's also imaginative, funny and loyal. The fact that the main character struggles with anxiety and mild OCD is also portrayed in an honest and relatable way. In addition, this story is a positive portrayal of a character of faith. That aspect is very subtle, but kids who believe will no doubt be delighted to see themselves on the page, and kids who aren't religious will not be put off. The graphic art is outstanding and adds texture and dimension to the story. Well done!

My 10 year daughter writes: " I loved it, I got it from the library and couldn't stop reading My friend already introduced me to this book, so it was miraculous that my mom borrowed it for me from the library, the same day that I got it I had finished. It is such a sweet story, yet very sad as, some of my friends were like the group. This story is very inspiring to me and I think it will inspire other girls to just be who they are on the inside and keep imagining."

Such an honest look at how life can be for kids at K-6th grade years. Fast moving story with great artwork throughout. A message a lot of young girls need.

I picked this up for my eight year old daughter and read it cover to cover in a matter of an hour - it was seriously that good and evoked emotions from me that I had not expected from a children's book. I wish I had read this book at my daughter's age and I'm excited to see her reactions as well. I was so taken with this story that I followed the author on Twitter just to thank her for writing such an honest and heartfelt story that I'm sure will impact girls for years to come.

I can not recommend this book strongly enough. Purchase your copy right now. You won't regret it. And do yourself a favor... read it before giving it to your child. I have no doubt you will enjoy it as much (if not more so) than they will.

As a girl going into middle school, I feel like I can relate to Shannon (the main character). Usually girls around my age and older start to feel the stress of having and/or losing friends and enemies and start to feel lost in the world. Shannon has this same kind of stress plus anxiety. The basic story is when Shannon is young, she does not worry about friends. After all, she has her mom, but everything changes when she starts kindergarten. Somehow the first day, shy little Shannon makes a friend, but in 2nd grade her friend moves away. Eventually her friend moves back and Shannon thinks she has her all to herself... until she meets Jen. Jen, the most popular girl in the grade, the leader of "The Group" is her friend's other friend. Throughout the rest of the book, Shannon struggles with best friends, enemies, a friend that moves to a gifted class, and girls and boys in between. What I like about this book is it's a struggle until the end, which is perfect, and shows Shannon will have a great 5th grade year.

My ten year old daughter wanted this book and read it twice within 24 hours. She then lent it to my 12 year old son and he finished it quite quickly too. I sat down and read it in an evening. It made me cry, laugh, and get mad. I remember those years being difficult at times and this book touches on a lot of things that happen during childhood. I'm glad my daughter read it and I'm glad that it's something that she's sharing with others. It's a great book to have to discuss things with them. It's beautifully written and I loved how she prayed and talked to Jesus at times when things were really rough for her. I was quite surprised that was in the book to be honest. You don't see that often. I like show she learned that sometimes hurt people just need to hurt people. And that it's okay to keep them at an arms length. And that it's okay to feel sad at times. I loved that she was a fighter and that when she saw something that was not right, she fought hard against it. Yes, it's surprising to see a girl that would want to be kissed in 2nd grade, but some girls do. I hope that my daughter would fight a boy in that situation too. This is the perfect book considering that my daughter's age group is getting into that catty phase where I begin to wonder how her friends are towards her.

A group of girls started reading this book at my daughter's school. Then they formed a 'No this-girl Club', started saying terribly mean things to different people in the class, and decided that they were the 'popular' girls. My daughter was literally bawling when she read part of this book about setting up prank sleepovers for the 'uncool' kids to embarass them. The girls in this book have terrible behavior, and although I think the author meant for this to have the opposite effect - kids mimic what they read.

Such an honest look at how life can be for kids at K-6th grade years. Fast moving story with great artwork throughout. A message a lot of young girls need.

I picked this up for my eight year old daughter and read it cover to cover in a matter of an hour - it was seriously that good and evoked emotions from me that I had not expected from a children's book. I wish I had read this book at my daughter's age and I'm excited to see her reactions as well. I was so taken with this story that I followed the author on Twitter just to thank her for writing such an honest and heartfelt story that I'm sure will impact girls for years to come.

I can not recommend this book strongly enough. Purchase your copy right now. You won't regret it. And do yourself a favor... read it before giving it to your child. I have no doubt you will enjoy it as much (if not more so) than they will.

As a girl going into middle school, I feel like I can relate to Shannon (the main character). Usually girls around my age and older start to feel the stress of having and/or losing friends and enemies and start to feel lost in the world. Shannon has this same kind of stress plus anxiety. The basic story is when Shannon is young, she does not worry about friends. After all, she has her mom, but everything changes when she starts kindergarten. Somehow the first day, shy little Shannon makes a friend, but in 2nd grade her friend moves away. Eventually her friend moves back and Shannon thinks she has her all to herself... until she meets Jen. Jen, the most popular girl in the grade, the leader of "The Group" is her friend's other friend. Throughout the rest of the book, Shannon struggles with best friends, enemies, a friend that moves to a gifted class, and girls and boys in between. What I like about this book is it's a struggle until the end, which is perfect, and shows Shannon will have a great 5th grade year.

My ten year old daughter wanted this book and read it twice within 24 hours. She then lent it to my 12 year old son and he finished it quite quickly too. I sat down and read it in an evening. It made me cry, laugh, and get mad. I remember those years being difficult at times and this book touches on a lot of things that happen during childhood. I'm glad my daughter read it and I'm glad that it's something that she's sharing with others. It's a great book to have to discuss things with them. It's beautifully written and I loved how she prayed and talked to Jesus at times when things were really rough for her. I was quite surprised that was in the book to be honest. You don't see that often. I like show she learned that sometimes hurt people just need to hurt people. And that it's okay to keep them at an arms length. And that it's okay to feel sad at times. I loved that she was a fighter and that when she saw something that was not right, she fought hard against it. Yes, it's surprising to see a girl that would want to be kissed in 2nd grade, but some girls do. I hope that my daughter would fight a boy in that situation too. This is the perfect book considering that my daughter's age group is getting into that catty phase where I begin to wonder how her friends are towards her.

A group of girls started reading this book at my daughter's school. Then they formed a 'No this-girl Club', started saying terribly mean things to different people in the class, and decided that they were the 'popular' girls. My daughter was literally bawling when she read part of this book about setting up prank sleepovers for the 'uncool' kids to embarass them. The girls in this book have terrible behavior, and although I think the author meant for this to have the opposite effect - kids mimic what they read.

Hale and Pham capture the essence of friendship and sibling rivalry in this middle school graphic novel. While not always a comfortable, tidy read, the story is realistic and deals with the angst of many young girls and their ever-changing friendships. Couple that with the narrator’s complicated relationship with her older sister and it makes for an intriguing story that one wants to continue reading to the end. I think the novel is courageous and necessary and I appreciated the resolve at the end.

My 8 year old daughter has read this over and over. I think the lessons in it are very important. The girls in it can be VERY mean, but I hate to say it....girls are freaking mean in real life! This book is realistic and it also tells them that you don't always have to keep letting people like that into your life. You have the option to say, no, I won't let someone keep hurting me. I highly recommend this book for young girls.

Bought this for my daughter because she has a friend that has some "mean girl" tendencies. The fact that the main character deals with that battle in a way helps her see it happens and can me handled. Also the fact it is in comic book format it made her day. She has shared it and passed it around with some of her friends also because she enjoyed it and it home for her.

Shannon Hale is shy and kind.All she needed was her mom and that was it.But then she started kindergarten and met a new best friend named Adrianne.They played and ran together but everything changed.When elamentry school started,Shannon found out about a group of girls called the group.The group leader Jen had invited Adrienne and Shannon into the group.After a few years of bieng in the group Shannon quits.She may have left her friend behind in the group,but she found some new friends that would always be by her side

If your kids are fans of Raina Telgemeier, this graphic novel is very much along those lines. In a classic kid-wants-to-be-part-of-the-in-crowd story, the book hits on middle-school themes such as bullying and anxiety, and overcoming one's own insecurities to become a more self-confident and self-reliant person.

Simply, this is a good book for those pre-teen kids who are dealing with or heading towards those issues in life. Any Telgemeier fan will love it.

I LOVED this book. Above all, it’s honest! So many books written for upper elementary grades are filled with families and friendships that don’t seem real or like any relationships or family I’ve been in. This feels real!

Friendships that are messy. Family that is messy. And figuring out how to wade through both with love and truth. I’m a big fan of this book (and its illustrations).

I read this book on the recommendation of a friend. I don’t read graphic novels and really had no interest but I valued this person’s opinion. I picked up the book at the library while my daughter played on an iPad expecting to read a few pages. The next thing I knew I was laughing and crying and finishing the entire book right there. I could not believe how much I related to the book. A lot of people are commenting that this book is for children but this mirrors my experiences my entire life in friendships. I loved this book so much I went home and emailed the author to thank her for writing it. Read it, give it to your kids. The words and illustrations are spot on. They convey feelings that, even if you have never had hurtful friendships, convey these experiences so perfectly. You can’t go wrong with this book!

This book is really something special. Delves into the everyday difficulties, wonders, and realities of elementary school friendships in a way that is not treated very often in literature. I would imagine this is an amazing book to get for an elementary age child, especially as it is an immensely high quality graphic novel, but I also deeply enjoyed it as a 21 year old woman. Allowing myself to dive into and remember the feelings and experiences of that age as we read and watched along with Shannon's story was wonderful in a way that was almost uncomfortable. "Did I bury those memories for a reason?", I found myself asking myself. "Well, they can't hurt me now, I'm past all that", Right??
A deeply human and touching memoir about early childhood. Buy it for all the children in your life and then steal it from them at night and read it yourself to be in their shoes for a little while.

My students were super excited when this came out. I only had one copy, but it managed to work its way through 20 kids in the last few weeks of the school year. Well told story, some situations from elementary school friendship drama familiar to many - both as kids and now as parents and teachers. The kids really connect with this story and recommend it to each other. It was on many summer reading plans.

A hard book to read, but I devoured it. It's hard to read because it's true and it hits home. Middle school is the worst for friendship and figuring out life. Girls are mean. You're insecure. It's just a cycle. I really liked this book and how it ended. It should be required reading for all middle schoolers because it's that good and that important.

Although the reading level is 2.6, the content is not for this age group...at all. My first grader does not need to be reading about calling boys and having them rate girls on their looks and personality.

Super great. My 4th grader has read it twice and tried to skip dinner to keep reading. My 7th grader got curious and has been caught reading it on several occasions when she thinks no one is watching. The girls even sit and read it together. The book is so real with what happens in every day real life. The girls can totally relate! Would recommend. Purchased at Costco because I didn't know it was coming out and happens to see it there, otherwise, I would've ordered it on the store for sure.

Bought this for my 7 year old daughter, hoping it would give her a framework for dealing with the complications of friendships at that age. We both really enjoyed it, and it gave us an opportunity to have a conversation about friendships and choosing how we want to be treated. Highly recommend.

This is a graphic novel memoir detailing Shannon's elementary school years. I really think every parent and every kid should read it and then talk about it afterward. I read the whole thing in one sitting, full on cried, and was in a funk thinking about it for the rest of the day.

I just love this new epidemic of graphic novel memoirs. I think our kids need to be engaged in stories where they can see characters that reflect things that they are actually going through today. I will forever support this movement. Thank you to all the people that keep this going.

Life is hard, and the author gets that. This isn’t a perfect world where everyone’s happy. It’s a confusing, scary world where you have to figure out who’s really your friend. This book has some really good lessons in it if you really know how to look. I think you should be at least 11 to read this book.

She’s read it twice. Such a sweet little story and extremely relatable story on relatable “girl drama” in school. Nothing offensive in this at all and a good little message at the end. Highly recommended!

This book is a graphic novel about a girl and her friends. It contains things such as her and another friend being held down and being kissed. Husband picked random page- kids spitting at each other. This book comes up with kids and parents self help books. Thought I was buying a book about how to be a real friend. Not marketed well.

As someone who grew up in the same time period, and also suffered from red hair and anxiety, this book hit me right in the feels. The challenges of making new friends and keeping old is portrayed accurately and will resonate with any elementary child. Also, THE TOPS OF CARROTS ARE GREEN SO WHY DID THEY CALL US "CARROT TOP?"

My cousins got me this book but it is paperback. This book has very good details and wording. The thing is the kissing when the other guy is holding the main character (Shannon) back.
I would adviz kids under 6 sould not read this book because when I read this book in bed when I was 6, the kissing part changed my aditud from behaved,to giving back talk to my mommy and daddy,to being grounded. All because of that kissing part. On the kouther hand, the rest of the book is wonderful!!!!! I am 8 and i want to be ether a reading tecer or an art teacher both for LWES (aka lake wilderness) Ok not to get of topic. Real friends is a wonderful book. Real friends in the real world are good to have by your sids at all times.

I recommend this book because the book gives a strong positive message for the readers. I gave this book 5 stars because I think more people need to read this book because you never know this book could surprise you. I thought well I'll try it but I don't think I will like it as much as other books but okay before I read this book. After I read the book I think that is my favorite graphic novel now out of all the graphic novels I have read!

My 8 year old is reading this for the second time, the second night in a row. She loves it, and I loved it too. I read it first to make sure it was appropriate for her. It reminded me of my childhood as well, and I've recommended it to many of my adult friends.

Shannon Hale's Real Friends is an important graphic novel about all kinds of friends. Hale takes us through her elementary days at school and her childhood being squished between older and younger siblings. It is a story that will resonate with many readers and leave you cheering for Shannon and her strength.

I'm in my 30's, my child is 7. I don't even fully understand what's going on in this book most of the time. I didn't know it was comic book style. I wouldn't have ordered. I ordered via app, so couldn't flip through the pages on app.

Yes, even though the book isn’t supposed to be out, the store already send me my pre-order and I received it today.

This was brilliant, just as I hoped this would be. Shannon Hale is one of my favourite writers, so I was delighted that she wrote a memoir in the way of a graphic novel. It tells all about her childhood, about her family, about friendships, about anxiety, and much more.

I loved Shannon’s imagination, when things got tough, or just while playing with friends. She thought of the most wonderful stories. She was destined to be writer, to write down those stories that came to her.

Her home situation, especially Wendy and how she treats Shannon was pretty severe. I didn’t quite like how the mom just stopped helping/mediating between the two of them. Because she felt it would only make it worse. So you just let your oldest daughter hit her sister, say terrible things about her? Even in presence of friends? What? No. Just no.

The situations at school did seem quite familiar to me, I may not have had a big group of people, but I did have a best friend and she was also just like Adrienne.

Jenny turned out to be quite the nasty person. Spreading lies, making sure that Shannon wasn’t liked in the group, purposely hiding appointments or things the group agreed on. I was really happy with how Shannon handled it in the end. Go girl! I am sure if you had answered yes she would just have continued ruining your life.

At times, and this is probably because I am reading this, and not actually being there, but at times I could see when situations would end up wrong. The girls would be talking about x topic, and Shannon would bump in with something of her own. For instance making a joke. At times it worked, but at times it just didn’t.

You can also see the anxiety that often ruled Shannon’s life. From counting the stones in the hallway, to counting trees. To stomach aches. In that way her mom was pretty awesome, she noticed something was wrong and tried to help her daughter out.

The ending was really sweet, and I was happy with how the book ended. I also liked the ending notes by Shannon Hale. How she explained about the book, about several events, about characters. That definitely added something extra to the whole book. She also added some of her childhood photographs.

Of course the book is entirely illustrated by LeUyen Pham, I am really happy she illustrated this book, as I love her other works she does for Shannon Hale.

All in all, a highly recommended book.

As someone who grew up in the same time period, and also suffered from red hair and anxiety, this book hit me right in the feels. The challenges of making new friends and keeping old is portrayed accurately and will resonate with any elementary child. Also, THE TOPS OF CARROTS ARE GREEN SO WHY DID THEY CALL US "CARROT TOP?"