I received this arc in exchange for an honest review.

After moving to a new town, Jade is lonely. Her previous friends have left. She entertains herself by writing stories about spending time with a girl named Zoe.

I liked this book. All the characters are interesting and have depth. Jade is interesting protagonist who learns from her mistakes. I enjoyed the themes of accepting imperfections and worrying about impressing others.

When you’re a child and someone moves, you might not ever hear from them again, let alone see them. Jade’s despair felt realistic. As someone with a relative with cancer, I could relate to her struggles. I also wrote as a child to deter my loneliness.

I appreciated how the novel doesn’t delve deeply into the mechanics of Zoe’s transformation. It’s not logical, so why waste time giving convoluted explanations? This is a character driven story, not one that needs to be bogged down by unnecessary worldbuilding.

While I liked some lines, the writing is bogged down by filter words, telling, and a few awkward sentences. However, since this is a children’s book I won’t consider the style a major concern.

My other complaint is the ending, it’s fitting for Jade and Zoe’s character arcs but it’s confusing and raises questions.

If you want a children’s book with strong themes and characters, I recommend Friend or Fiction.

Thank you Netgalley and Charlesbridge for providing me with an advanced e-copy of Friend or Fiction by Abby Cooper.

This was a magical read and very clever. It was so much more than just a girl and her imaginary friend. And a great lesson on friendship. Not everyone will be the "cool kid" with all the friends.
Thanks for bringing Abby to life. I reallu enjoyed her and ger family.

Cooper, Abby. Friend or Fiction. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2019.

Finished 6/12

4 stars

Summary from Net Galley
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 Review

The premise of this book was one that interested me. No close friends so Jade writes a story about a best friend who lives across the street. Through magic this friend comes alive. Abby Cooper did a good job of making Jade grow as the story progresses. I found the story to be a bit slow moving but the plot premise was interesting enough to encourage me to keep reading to find out what would happen next. The story touches on several things which affect children - particularly loneliness and a parent with a critical illness, in this case cancer. Through the story, readers can be lead to live in the real world, not a made-up world and to look for friends in unlikely places.

Possible Area of Concern:
While a very quiet and subtle inclusion - so quiet I almost missed it - one of the characters has two dads (no mention of a mom). The way it was mentioned leads me to believe the parents are a pair of men. The children in that family are adopted.

Because of this area of concern, I will not be able to place this book in my K-12 Christian School library.

I like Abby Cooper for her ability to make the genre of magical realism accessible to young readers. I'm sure many kids would love to have an imaginary friend come to life. I liked that Jade learned how to make a "real friend" during the course of the novel. Jade wasn't always likable but I don't think main characters always have to be likable - it makes them more relate-able to the reader in my opinion.

I love this one! While Jade and her family deal with her dad's cancer and ongoing treatment, she worries about not having a true friend. She begins writing about Zoe, the friend she wishes she had. Jade spends a great deal of time writing about their adventures, always seeing to it that they have happy experiences. When a boy known as Clue figures out a way to bring her fictional friend to life, it seems perfect! Perfection is not part of real life though, and problems start to arise quickly. Jade must examine what she really wants in a friend and whether she needs to control Zoe like she could in her stories. I think this one will be a hit with middle grade readers!

I think this is my favorite Abby Cooper book so far! I loved the premise and the friendship issues, while based in fantasy, are so relevant for her readers. The ending was satisfying without being overly "happily ever after".

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I love a clever story. Jade is a loner, but she longs for a best friend. The perfect BFFs does exist - on the pages of Jade's notebook, each tale written from Jade's lonely heart.

One day, a neighbor moves in across the street and she is very familiar. She and Jade are automatic BFFs - but at what cost? Is a friend really a friend if you control her every move? Is having a BFF by your side while your dad struggles with cancer worth any price?

I can't wait to introduce this to my middle school students. A story of unlikely friendships, assumptions, and compassion will be perfect for this age group.

Thank you to NetGalley and Charlesbridge for an eARC of this book.

What if you could write a story, and your characters came to life in the real world? Better yet, what if you could write yourself a best friend, and by continuing her story, she could be everything you wanted her to be. That's what Jade things has happened to her when a classmate steals her writing journal and uses some magical water on it. At first, Jade is delighted to have Zoe come to life, but she soon discovers that it's not quite what she expected it would be.

This is a great story with a touch of magic that loosk at what it really means to be a friend, including emotions like jealousy that go along with it. Jade's dad is also dealing with liver cancer, and her obsession with writing stories eventually takes a backseat when her family goes on a trip and she sees what she's been missing while isolating herself in her imaginary world. I love. Jade's friend, Clue, is a character that I really loved because he helped Jade break out of her own thoughts, and face what was right in front of her.

TW: Liver cancer, loneliness, death, losing a friend
I think this story was a good balance between the magical realism and keeping it lighthearted while also showing Jade's character growth. I liked Jade and Clue's friendship more than I liked Zoe and Jade as bffs. I like the lessons taught within the story. I did get bored in the middle of it but I know it was a necessary part for Jade's growth.

I liked the premise of this story, but I'm not sure I bought into the magic completely. I would however recommend this book to a fifth grade or above.

I went into this book not really expecting much because I was under the impression it was for readers on the younger side. However, once I started reading it I was quickly enticed with the entire storyline. The characters were very well written and I felt connected to each of them and I didn’t want the book to end. It was absolutely amazing all the way around.

This book was quite a thinker. The main premise is that Jade is a very lonely 6th grader. Her town is full of transients, no one but her family staying for very long. Rather than making the effort to make new friends, she escapes to her writing and creates the perfect friend there named Zoe. When a magical experiment gone right brings Zoe to life, Jade isn't sure what to think. At first it is ideal, but as Jade stays longer the perfection starts to wear off, especially when Jade realizes that she is still able to control Zoe with her writing. The importance of Zoe is that Jade is forced to consider the people around her and the life she is living, not the story that she is creating in her beloved notebook.

What I really loved about this book was Mrs. Yang, a sort of English teacher/fairy godmother character. Mrs. Yang was there from the beginning, cheering Jade on as a writer, but also telling her that real life should be the inspiration for your stories, not the other way around. I also thought that the relationship between Jade and Clue was really special. They were both struggling with feeling alone, though for very different reasons.

Abby Cooper likes to use magical realism to take complicated emotional topics and make them a bit easier to understand. This was a surprisingly endearing story.

Jade Levy is a middle school student who is tired of friends coming and going in their little town. When her dad gets cancer, she needs a best friend more than ever. She has always loved writing so she decided to create a best friend that would never leave. When a classmate helps Zoe become alive, Jade can’t believe it! Zoe is everything she imagined! Jade quickly realizes being in control of Zoe’s story isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and maybe she needs a differently type of friend after all.
Friend or Fiction was a sweet book that read very quickly. It dealt with some emotional topics but in a easy to relate manner. I would have loved for more direct references to childhood depression, as it is clear that Jade was dealing with this condition. Overall, it was a good read and I would recommend for ages 10 and up. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this review.

I received an electronic copy from the publisher through Netgalley for an honest review.

Jade is a fourth-grader. All of Jade's best friends moved their town and left her; she is usually very lonely and spends her time writing about having a best friend named Zoe and all the fun things they do together. Her Dad is suffering from cancer and is her number one fan. Her brother Enzo, on the other hand, draws about everybody defeating a super villain. While Zoe is fictional, Jade is overjoyed when one day, Zoe becomes as real and true as her stories, with some help from her classmate Clue. But real life is out of her control and things don't always go as she plans...

This is one lovely story. Jade's family dynamics, the friendship and morality lessons infused within these few pages, and especially the part where Enzo's super-villain is revealed - it blew my mind. Kids would find this an amazing book to learn about endurance and perseverance. The writing style was also beautifully touching. Abby Cooper has penned down a miraculous story, even though sometimes the magical realism element seems to be questionable. I would definitely want my kids to read this book.

Although I get fatigue from so many “serious issue” books that are rampant in middle grade nowadays, the creativity of the story of middle schooler Jade - who invents a best friend in a notebook and then is shocked when a girl with the same name as her imaginary friend moves to town - pushes this into my “should buy” pile. Good for fiction readers who love to write, and also a good book for some lonely kids out there.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good middle grades novel about difficulties in life and transient friendships.

Jade is going through a rough time, things are less than perfect for her at school and at home. She lives with her family in a no-name town where no one seems to stay for good. When Jade gets a best friend they always end up moving away, so she decides to make up an imaginary best buddy. At home things things are even more complicated since Jade’s dad has been battling cancer.
Things get really interesting for Jade when her imaginary friend becomes real. At first it seems too good to be true, but eventually becomes a great lesson on friendship for Jade.
I enjoyed the story and really liked Jade’s character.
Thank you to Charlesbridge and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

I enjoyed the book and really liked it. Waiting to hear more from the author. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.

A sweet middle grade story—but I was left confused by some aspects.

Friend or Fiction contained some cool themes that I really loved, presented in an original, fun, and upbeat way. It had well-developed characters and a magical, imaginative storyline. However, the ending left me hanging... and not in a positive way.

Our main character, Jade, hasn’t exactly had the best luck with friendships. She lives in a “transient town,” which means most friends don’t stick around long enough to become best friends, something that is a hardship for sociable Jade, who only wants a best friend. So Jade comes up with a solution: she’ll just invent her own best friend. She begins writing about Zoe—the dream best friend, the best friend Jade has always longed for. Her notebook goes with her everywhere, and she can face anything with Zoe along with her for the ride. Safe in the pages of a notebook, she can invent all sorts of wild, fun adventures for her and Zoe, adventures where nothing ever goes wrong and they laugh and laugh for hours.

This was so heartbreakingly sweet and sad at all once. Jade’s vivid imagination is clear and transparent, something I think many will relate to. The concept of wanting a perfect best friend is a relevant concept to middle-graders for sure, and this aspect of the story was communicated fluently.

But then the story takes a magical turn when Zoe is brought to life by another classmate, Clue. Jade has always thought Clue was weird, and never really talked to him, but now she is forced to after he somehow has done this feat for her: Zoe is alive! And at first, Zoe is the most perfectest best friend Jade could ask. She also learns that anything she writes happens; she now has the opportunity to actually live all of her and Zoe’s wild adventures!

But after weeks of manufacturing friendship, and wondering if Zoe would even be her best friend if she had her own choice, Jade must face the reality of friendship. And this is where these themes appear. You can’t control others; you can’t force a friendship. Additionally, that friendship is built off of bad times alongside with good times—Jade has to learn that true friends don’t just laugh and laugh and build a friendship, but that it also involves going through tough situations together, something she never imagined in her notebook adventures. Against the backdrop of desperate, relatable Jade, who is transparently both so sweet and so human, I thought these themes were messages hard to miss—and ones so important for the middle school crowd as well.

The end, however, flummoxed me. Jade makes the bold, and brave, decision to let Zoe go. She has realized that she cannot force the friendship and that she isn’t a good friend if she tries to manufacture friendship. So she lets Zoe go—and Zoe....disappears? With how Zoe was brought to life explained so thoroughly, this sudden lack of detail surprised me. Further, the story ends with Jade realizing Clue is now her best friend. Essentially, the impression was that Zoe was a lesson, something important, but not the most important. And if Zoe had always remained on the page, this would have been absolutely correct. Zoe, in a way, paves the way to Jade’s personal growth and also teaches her about friendship, so she is able to open up to other people (aka, Clue). But the fact that Zoe was actually a person introduced an empathy in the reader that, to me, shook up this theme. Since Zoe was real—where did she go? Was she a real person who had no worth? Was she a meaningless real person? Was she a valuable person, who was easily discarded?

A little more clarification on this magical tone would have cleaned up a lot of confusion for the reader.

To sum it up, I loved the thematics and appreciated the incredible creativity of the author’s mixing of reality and fantasy. However, I felt it needed a little more cleaning up to really make sense to the reader and make the impact desired. 3.5 stars

this book came at an opportune time when I was going through interviews for uni apps and it felt like a warm hug.

things I really enjoyed about this book
1. touching moments that caught me by surprise. I cannot deny the fact that within the first 50 pages I had to put the book away because I felt tears welling up while reading on the train. I loved the family dynamics in this book, I loved how jade's father tried to be part of the family's life as much as possible and coped with his illness through humour and good fun (which hits close to home in many different layers)

2. I really enjoyed the diversity in the book as well, while it was pretty heavy-handed in that sense of telling us (instead of showing) that Clue has 2 dads and one of the Sparkles was wearing a hijab. nevertheless, it was pleasant to know that kids today would pick up this book and be introduced to a world where gay marriages are normalised and racism is not heard of.

3. this development of the plot is subtle. the transition from a happy, rainbows and sparkles friendship when Zoe first came to life to the unhealthy power dynamic between the duo was smooth and natural. at times, I would also wish Zoe would reach out to jade more. their relationship towards the end was so nice and it reminded me of my beloved friend in which we have no judgement and no jealousy.

some things I think could have been done better/ made the story more interesting
1. I wished we could have gotten other character's POV. I think I would have enjoyed listening to clue's and Zoe's side of the story.

2. how Zoe came to life was never properly explained because she did reveal that she was in a car and she was dropped off to the house opposite jade. I wished she had more questions to ask about how she was brought to life, the restrictions, limits and rules.

3. follow-up on point 2, whether the magical pond water only allowed one person to be brought alive at a time was also not explored. although it might be fleeting, I think a short appearance of clue's sister could have been touching and thought-provoking (what would you say to a dead beloved relative?)

4. jade could have given Zoe some parents! or in an attempt to save her dad, wrote 'Zoe found a surefire way to cure jade's dad's cancer'. I think that could potentially involve the adults more and gave more stakes to the story.


overall though, it is a book I would recommend primary and maybe even secondary schoolers as this book delves into the joys and importance of friendship, love and support. hence, it would be a handy guide for readers to forge and nurture strong friendships.