Shannon Hale

Best Friends

Sarah Sammis

The start of Best Friends is full of anticipation. Shanon will be at the top of her school. She has a strong friend group and lots of games they like to play together. She's now friends with the most popular girl in the school. Nothing could possibly be better. Right?

But sixth grade brings changes. Her friends become more interested in boys than in make believe. Staying current with popular culture takes on new urgency for them too. Relatably, though, Shanon can't seem to keep up whatever is currently hot. What will come with age is the ability to let go of that need.

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renee badenoch

I liked this book, as I have liked all of Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham’s collaborations. As in all of her books, Shannon Hale does a very good job of depicting severe depression and anxiety in a realistic, and often heartbreaking way. She also has such an ear for dialogue and for playing out events that happened in her life in a frank, honest way. Some of this is simply because of Hale’s commitment to being a historian of her own past; I love her author notes at the end where she shows documentation from old copies of her journals, stories she wrote, and notes passed between friends in class, all of which she kept like a prescient archivist. I also appreciate that in Hale’s author notes she writes responsibly to readers about resources they can use to reach out for help if they relate to her issues of anxiety and depression. 

This book was harder for me to read than the rest of her books because of the overt religious tone of it. A lot of Hale’s anxiety was exacerbated by the religious milieu she grew up in, and it was a little too reminiscent of my own past for me to feel comfortable reading it. I believe that Hale is still religious, and I can only hope that she was able to move to a more progressive version of Christianity that doesn’t constantly remind followers of their innate unworthiness to be loved.

Mahogany Skillings

This was a chapter sampler.

Great beginning. Art by Pham is wonderful. Can't wait to read the rest!

Susan Forsythe

Where were Graphic Novels like this when I was a kid. This memoir of childhood anxiety and wondering how to fit in was great.

Samantha Seeman

4.5* 
This was such a great one. It is a stand alone sequel to Hale’s previous graphic novel, Best Friends, and follows Shannon as she navigates 6th grade, boyfriends and friend groups. Shannon has got it made, she is going to sixth grade best friends with the most popular girl in her grade, and as a member of a large friend group. Unfortunately, now that they are in sixth grade, the friend group has a lot of rules, and Shannon just isn’t sure who makes them up, and whether or not she has to follow them. Are her “friends” being mean? or is that just how friendships work? It was really well done, and as always the art is super bright and attractive. Another book to add to the ever growing list of Raina Telgemeier read-a-likes.

Sarah Willhite

This was a fun, cute, and lively memoir. I lived the art style and the characters. This is a wonderful sequel. They can be stand alones though. I didn't even know this book existed after I reread the 1st one, until I came across it on good reads. But this was still an amazing read for me. You follow shannon who is trying to keep friends in the sixth grade after not really having any in elementary school. She is also trying to make new friends with an enemy. She struggles with all the new rules of sixth grade and what to do. Overall I lived this book.

Best Friends

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