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My New Best Friend (2008)

by Julie Bowe(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0152064982 (ISBN13: 9780152064983)

languge

English

genre

Middle Grade & Children's

publisher

HMH Books for Young Readers

series

Friends for Keeps

review 1: Bowe, Julie. 2007. My Last Best Friend.I enjoyed My Last Best Friend right from the start:"I'm Ida May, and there's one thing I know. Fourth grade isn't fourth at all. Fourth means you've done something at least three times before. But fourth grade is nothing like third grade. Or second grade. Or first grade.In fourth grade there is no more printing There is only cursive. I hate cursive.In fourth grade you are not allowed to add and subtract. You are only allowed to multiply and divide.In fourth grade you're a baby if you still want to play with Barbies. Or if the Tooth Fairy still comes to your house. Or if you want your mother to walk you to the bus stop. Third grade is the last grade you can get by with any of that. Trust me." (1)Our narrator, Ida May, is great. I found... more her voice to be believable. And I cared for her almost immediately. Ida May's "problems" are authentic ones. Her best friend has moved away. She's starting a new school year, and she doesn't have--make that doesn't want--another best friend. She's a bit intimidated by some of the other kids in her class. Especially by the mean, bully Jenna Drews. And she just wishes it would all go away. Her parents just don't understand. (As an adult, I can see that they just want their child to be "happy." And sometimes to get to that happy place later--further on in the future--you've got to be pushed into doing some things you just don't like in the here and now.) But Ida May feels her parents are always pushing and prodding and picking on her when it comes to the "friends" issue. (They want her to have friends and to be popular and part of the crowd instead of isolated on her own.)What she finds is a friend through a pen pal. Stacey Merriweather is the new girl. On the surface, she's best pals with the "evil" Jenna Drews. But Ida May feels that maybe just maybe Stacey isn't what she seems. That beneath the surface, there's someone there that would be her friend. Ida knows Stacey is a liar. That she's not telling the truth. That she's keeping secrets. And before Ida risks revealing herself, she wants a few reassurances, promises. Thus a correspondence begins between Anastasia (Stacey) and Cordelia (Ida). She's able to be herself, her true self, on paper and really begins to open up again to the possibility of friendship and happiness.Life. School. Friendship. Bullies. Family.© Becky Laney of Young Readers
review 2: Reviewed by Julie M. Prince for TeensReadToo.comWhen Ida and Stacey create a secret club, the world gets kind of kooky. Perhaps it's because the club mascot is an evil mermaid, or perhaps it's because of all the secrets. Best friends share secrets, right? But what if your best friend's secrets are getting you in trouble? And what if your worst enemy is acting more like your best friend than your actual best friend? I couldn't wait for this sequel to MY LAST BEST FRIEND, and Julie Bowe is back with the authentic fourth-grade voice of Ida May: "I'm NOT so thankful that Brooke invited Jenna to the party. That's because Jenna is the kind of person who would pin back your skin if she could. Then she would take something sharp and poke at all the stuff you'd rather keep hidden. Stuff like spilling your lunch tray. And tripping on the bus." Ida May is the perfect fourth-grade narrator, learning to navigate the boundaries of a new friendship and gaining wisdom about relationships around her, all with the helpful insight of her sock monkey, George. The anticipation of this second book was well worthwhile, as Ida remained true and strong, and Bowe developed secondary characters into some I'd like to know even better. This is a book elementary school teachers can put on classroom bookshelves with confidence that it's a well-told story to which kids will relate. less

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