School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-9-Anna is reeling from the recent changes in her life. A year ago, her parents divorced; six months ago, her dad and stepmother had a baby; a few weeks ago, her BFF declared their friendship over; and three days ago, her mother tried to commit suicide. Everything in Anna's life feels wrong and awful-and on top of everything else, Anna feels she's let her mother down. Friend's book deals with all the difficulties of middle school, newly blended families, and-authentically and without oversimplification-having a parent with mental illness. Anna's confusion about her mother, her mother's bipolar disorder, and their relationship are heartbreaking and honest, and her conflicts and conversations with her parents, teachers, and friends ring true. Friend avoids all the pitfalls of a run-of-the-mill "issue" novel to offer a nuanced look at a life that, despite unexpected turns and sometimes crippling feelings of fear and loss, can still be happy. VERDICT This well-written, expertly layered work is strongly recommended for YA collections.-Amy Koester, Learning Experiences Department, Skokie PL © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Middle school bitchiness is elevated to high art in this poignant tale of a girl dealing with the aftermath of her mother's suicide attempt. Anna is so "been there, done that" it defies her mere 13 years on Earth. After a lifetime of dealing with her flaky mom's emotional highs and lows and her distant dad's remarriage to the beautiful Marnie, Anna has learned how to shut people out and shut down her own emotions. However, the loss of her one-time best friend, Danielle, to the popular set proves to be one body blow too many. Friend's sixth novel (My Life in Black and White, 2012; Lush, 2010) and first for middle-grade readers reverberates with honest eighth-grade emotion. Anna's first-person delivery is wry, sad, heartbreaking, in-your-face, and raw. She captures the utterly helpless feeling of a child trying to deal with the very grown-up problem of a parent's mental illness, with a father who doesn't communicate well and a life that isn't going how it should. Friend balances heartache with humor, creating in Anna a memorable, funny, and genuine girl and serving up middle school angst with a teen edge. While her cast isn't particularly diverse, they are memorable; as so many protagonists have done before, Anna learns that sitting with the weirdos is a whole lot more fun than toeing the mean-girl line. An upper-middle-grade winner. (Fiction. 12-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Anna, the 13-year-old protagonist of Friend's bittersweet story, thinks her life is falling apart. It's bad enough her best friend, Dani, doesn't want to be friends anymore. Anna also has to deal with her mother's recent suicide attempt. Now, while her mother is in the hospital, Anna has to live with her father, his new (and young) wife, and their baby, Jane. At school, she sits at the outcasts' table during lunch. Eventually, however, she finds her own place there and at her father's house, where she realizes that her stepmother, Marnie, is genuinely nice. Anna is a gem of a character funny, wise, and clever. Friend has a finely tuned ear for language, which is nicely reflected in Anna's first-person narrative, where she is usually circumspect in her speech but sarcastic and sharp in her thoughts. Her transformation is sympathetic, convincing, and compelling as she takes the time she needs to heal from her own adversity and accept that life isn't going to be perfect. Readers will revel in her journey.--Scanlon, Donna Copyright 2016 Booklist
