Title: Friend or fiction.
Author: Abby Cooper.
Format: E-ARC.
Publisher: Charlesbridge.
Page count: 275.
Release day: October 8th 2019.
Genre: Middle Grade, magical realism.
Rating: 4 stars.
*Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC!*
What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)
One creative middle-schooler schooler
discovers that the best friend a girl can have is the one she makes herself in
this charming magical realism read.
Jade’s life hasn’t exactly been normal lately,
especially since her dad’s cancer diagnosis. Jade wishes her family could leave
their no-name town in Colorado already–everybody else does sooner rather than
later, including every best friend Jade’s ever had. So she makes one up. In the
pages of her notebook, she writes all about Zoe–the most amazing best friend
anyone could dream of.
But when pretend Zoe appears in real life thanks
to a magical experiment gone right, Jade isn’t so sure if she likes sharing her
imaginary friend with the real world. To keep her best friend (and even make
some new ones), Jade learns how to cope with jealousy, that friends should let
friends be true to themselves, and that maybe the perfect best friend doesn’t
exist after all.
My thoughts:
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book beforehand, especially since recently I’m not having a lot of luck with ARCs. But it was this was better than that I had thought!
This book with quite heavy topics, and I think the author did it very well! Especially because this book is for younger readers. I can definitely see how people how are in the same situation can see themselves in this story. I think this is a very important story for young readers!
Besides the disease of Jade’s dad, deals this book also with loneliness. Jade lives in a city where everyone comes and goes, and she struggles with making friends. So she makes her own, on paper. And for some reason she comes alive, now Jade struggles with sharing her perfect friend. Jade learns such important lessons about making friends, and living in the real world, compared to a fictional one!
This book deals with heavy topics but in a very lite way, and I think for this book it worked so well!
I don’t have that much more to say about this book! It is a good and important story!
I took one star, because in the beginning of the book it was a bit unclear what direction the book would take, and it confused me a bit!
Magical realism is very hit or miss with me but I’ve been getting into it more and more recently. This sounds like a really good book. Great review.
Same, sometimes it is just too confusing!
Thanks 🙂