Real Friends

In Real Friends, acclaimed author Shannon Hale and talented illustrator LeUyen Pham collaborate to create an engaging graphic memoir that explores the complexities of friendship during childhood. The story follows Shannon, who has always shared a close bond with her best friend Adrienne, but their friendship faces a significant challenge when Adrienne begins to spend time with the popular Jen and her exclusive group, known simply as The Group. Shannon's journey is filled with emotional highs and lows as she navigates the ups and downs of this shifting dynamic. She grapples with feelings of insecurity and exclusion, questioning whether she will remain friends with Adrienne or if she is destined to be left out of the social circle dominated by bullying and competition for popularity. Real Friends is a heartfelt exploration of the formative years of friendships, highlighting the struggle to stand up for oneself and find genuine connections. With relatable themes and humorous illustrations, this graphic novel serves as a perfect conversation starter for discussing feelings of belonging and self-worth. It's an uplifting and insightful read that resonates with both children and adults, making it an essential addition to the libraries of fans of contemporary children's literature and graphic novels.

excellent

My 8 year old granddaughter loved it! In fact she’d go back and ‘reread’ portions of the book.

My granddaughter really wanted this book and began reading it as soon as she received it. She really liked the stories about friends. I think that she applied the good ideas for friendships to her relationships even though she is eight years old. Perfect age to read this book.

Shannon Hale is one of my favorite authors. I've read most of what she's written. I was definitely intrigued when I heard about this graphic novel based on her own childhood memories. It's not entirely memoir as Shannon herself explains in the back of the book. After all, human memory is certainly fallible and no two people experience the same situation in exactly the same way. Plus, she's changed a lot of names. But it's clear that the emotion behind the story is real. It certainly felt real to me, maybe because I could relate to some of the struggles that young Shannon has making, keeping, and losing friendships. Friendship can be a tricky thing, especially when clicks get involved as they so often do in elementary/middle school. When Shannon's dear friend, Adrienne, becomes part of "The Group", she tags along, hoping that she isn't going to lose her one and only friend. And she doesn't, not exactly, but she's not fully welcomed into "The Group" either. As Shannon's relationships with her friends fluctuate, she struggles with the unkindness that occurs as well as her own anxieties and frequent illnesses. In addition to her confusion about her friends, she struggles to get along with her older sister, Wendy. Shannon's dream of being a writer slowly develops as she works hard to figure out how to handle her relationship difficulties. LeUyen Pham does a phenomenal job illustrating Shannon's experiences. Not only does each person shine through in personality and appearance but Pham uses her own imagination to show the imaginative play that Shannon so enjoyed with her friends (I loved how Shannon always imagined her self as a strong female superhero of sorts, this so reminded me of the games I loved to play as a kid). In addition, demonstrating in a sometimes amusing, but often sad way the challenging relationship that Shannon had with her sister, Wendy is sometimes depicted as a giant, rather intimidating bear. This is a book that is bound to be loved just like Rain Telgemeier's Smile and Sisters, simply because young readers will be able to relate to it so well.

Great graphics- my girls like

It’s so fascinating to realize we all deal with the same insecurities and struggles as kids, yet still manage to alienate each other and have trouble being sympathetic. While reading this I felt so seen. I dealt with the so many friendship troubles because of constantly moving schools and being the odd one out. Along with cultural barriers and parents who tried their best but weren’t ‘in the know’ about many trends or activities. As I’ve grown up those experiences have softened in my memory but I can’t deny their harshness ultimately encouraged me to be kinder to myself and others. Once you know what it means to be lonely and sad, you take a moment to give others grace.

Well written and illustrated well. I see what the author was going for but there was so much bickering and negativity in this book. My ten year old read it to me, as we do with all books. Maybe there is this much drama with other schools in other cities/states, but our public school does not have this cliquish social dynamic. So, to me it seemed way over the top as she read it. We bought all the books, so we will keep reading to see how it all plays out. If your child is in a school situation with cliques, this book is appropriate.

Kissing pictures and not suitable for kids

Mia figlia lo ha letteralmente divorato. Il libro è stato uno spunto per parlare dell’amicizia e della lealtà.

My children love to read them before the bed time over and over again. Vivid stories to them and very attractive. High quality books. Good for kids to learn how to deal with different situations in real life.

Una historia de empoderamiento para las niñas

中古で他にも沢山本を買ってますが、ここまでひどいのは初めて。 表紙が折れ曲がっておりはっきり折れ目がある…ここまでは許せてもお茶のシミが表紙に。 アルコール綿で拭き取りましたが、汚すぎる。