Shannon Hale wraps up her “Friends” trilogy with a heartfelt graphic memoir of eighth grade anxiety.
Friends Forever by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham. First Second, 2021, 280 pages.
Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12
Recommended for: ages 10-15
After the trauma of fifth grade (Real Friends) and the anxieties of sixth (Best Friends), Shannon has finally found her vibe. She’s gotten the hang of junior high, come out of her shell, and learned to make friends by being a friend. Eighth grade is looking great! But . . . it doesn’t take long for the old fears to emerge. She’s not beautiful like her friend Jane or confident like her friend Heather. She has no boyfriends (again, like Jane) but too many dreams, none of which line up with her parents’ expectations. Or the expectations of her LDS church. Slights and failures and self-doubts eventually lead to a bout of depression that has her parents wondering if Shannon would be better off finishing the school year with relatives in California.
Then things begin to get better. Anxiety and mild OCD are personal characteristics that she comes to understand and even accept (mostly)—along with the fact that she is not going to set her world on fire. But that’s okay: what she is, is enough.
In the author note, Shannon Hale reveals that most of the events in the book are pretty much as they happened, including a mall Santa who groped her and the kids who brought alcohol to a movie-watching party. (She didn’t drink any.) The year is 1987, so many of today’s moms experienced a lot of the same confusions and temptations. Would Friends Forever be a good springboard to share some of those with their own 7th and 8th-graders? Illustrator LeYun Pham introduces each chapter with an imagined magazine cover illustrating adolescent ideals of Beauty, Fame, Success, Romance (the Boys!) and the Perfect Girl. The last chapter is Enough (as in, You Are).
Considerations:
- This might be worth a pause for talking over: In what ways is the statement “You are enough” true and untrue? How might a passage like Psalm 23 relate to this idea?
- Creepy Santa and alcohol at a party, mentioned above. All true!
Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)
- Worldview/moral value: 3.5
- Artistic/literary value: 4.5
Read more about our ratings here.
Also at Redeemed Reader:
- Review: Growing Friends is a practical (and friendly) guide to forming peer relationships. The Friendship War, by the late Andrew Clement, is one of many MG novels on the popular theme.
- Review: For another graphic-novel memoir of adolescent anxiety, see our discussion of New Kid and Guts.
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I love this series! I have read the books over and over again and still love them. It reminds me so much of me, and how I wanted to be an author when I was older. Everyone at least had one problem with a friend, unless you are reading this when you are in first or second- I know you are! The thing with friends is how they are so confusing and mysterious, always keeping you puzzled or mixed emotions. I love how rich the writing is and how she explained how she felt, while keeping everything in order; I mean, how does Shannon Hale do that?! Her lovely words she used and the way she showed all the thoughts she had was truly heart felt and made me smile.
Is anyone confused how she remembered all the memories she showed in her graphic novel? She like 47 and remembers many things in her past, it’s just incredible.
LeUyen Pham is amazing at illustrating and really brings Shannons memories to life. The expressions and biting there lip is marvels me and it almost seems like I have met that person before. Has anyone noticed in the Friends Forever book on page 21 teenage Shannon has green pants but on page 22 it turns to blue? Besides that, LeUyen is such a wonderful woman and is great at art. A true artist, I’ll say.
-A fellow reader/fan