This graphic novel was hilarious and well-drawn, definitely worth the money and the hype, and I hope will be successful!

The Real Friends series is one of my favorite graphic novel, and overall, series. Hale's stories of struggling in middle school, paired with Pham's illustrations, are perfect for middle schools who identify as female. I have read Best Friends with my girls' book club, and more than once with my daughter, and have loved it each time. I recommend this graphic novel for fans of Raina Teglemeir, Kayla Miller, Terri Libenson, and Victoria Jamieson.

Shannon Hale is a great author of graphic novels. My students love everything she writes and I can't keep her books on my shelf. I love this book just like all her others.

I love Shannon Hale's books, and BEST FRIENDS is no exception. This one goes deeper into Shannon's experiences with undiagnosed and untreated OCD and anxiety, and it's some of the most honest, realistic depictions of intrusive thoughts I've ever read - including in books for "grown-ups." This book genuinely would have changed my life if I'd read it when I was a 6th grader.

Shannon Hale does a great job of capturing the challenges kids face in Junior High in this sequel to Read Friends. I purchased a copy for the classroom and it quickly became a favorite with my students.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc.

A tween-age graphic novel is one of my favourite genres and I think young people can get a lot from this. The copy was just a preview so I don't know how effective this review will be! Relatable characters, from what I gathered.

*Received via NetGalley for review*

A wonderful follow up to a wonderful first piece. Everyone can understand what Hale went through, and everyone can understand the emotions and growth that comes with that.

Sixth grade is so hard. Your friends form new groups, your body becomes a stranger, your brain chemistry explodes, and everyone starts pairing off in strange pre-dating rituals. This book does a lot to help eleven year olds make sense of it all, and Shannon Hale teaming with LeUyen Pham is the best pairing since the Princess in Black.

This is a great book to explore tween friendships but also it shows Shannon experiencing anxiety and the wats it affects her life. She writes more about it in her author’s note. Add this to the growing stack of excellent graphic memoirs for tweens.

More of the same from the first book, which is acceptable for a sequel, but I found it a bit redundant. Kids, particularly those facing some of the same challenges around wanting to fit in without losing oneself, will likely enjoy it more.

A nice taste of the book to come. I wouldn't have opened this if I had realized it was just a preview. Hale's work is a great addition to the pantheon of realistic school age graphic novels.

I loved reading "Real Friends" by Shannon Hale and I was so excited to read this companion graphic novel. In the vein of Raina Telgemeier, this is a graphic memoir about Hale's time in middle school. She struggles to fit in and find friends until she finds herself in the popular group. However, is it worth being in the popular girl group if you aren't able to be yourself or stick up for others? Hale touches on her crippling anxiety and OCD which made her middle school experience even more different than her fellow classmates. This is a great graphic novel and I would recommend it to all readers.

Best Friends is a great follow-up to Hale's candid graphic memoir Real Friends in which she struggles to find friends in elementary school. Now in sixth grade Shannon is part of the popular group, has friends to hang out with, she shares her locker with the Queen Bee, and the girl who bullied her last year is leaving her alone. Despite all of this social growth, Shannon still feels herself riding the wild roller coaster (both literally and metaphorically) of friendship and social cues of middle school. She did not realize that she had to "homework" in listening to the "right" music and watching the "right" television shows in order to stay a member of her in-crowd. Her hobbies of role playing and writing are no longer cool when her group of friends are starting to talk about boys and wanting to hang out with boys. Incidents of bullying, particularly playing the part of a bystander, and moments of isolation makes Shannon's anxiety grow and become more prominent. She has even developed obsessive compulsive tendencies. These moments cause her to reflect and do a gut check about her friendships.

Hale's graphic memoir authentically portrays the complexity and untold social rules of friendship that will ring true to many readers despite their age. She is very candid about her shortcomings and her vulnerabilities. I loved the inclusion of her creative writing story in which she tries to work out her problems. The artwork beautifully captures the nuances of a typical middle school life and adding nice 1980s nostalgia while also balancing Shannon’s public woes with her inner conflicts. I particularly liked the dark clouds with jittery, scratchy writing that indicate her anxiety on high alert. Though the artwork is simple, the detailed facial expressions add emotional depth and accessibility particularly in the wordless panels. An author's note talks earnestly and age-appropriately about anxiety.This would be a great addition to any graphic novel collection.

Shannon Hale can't write a bad book and LeUyen Pham's art is just fantastic. Anyone who liked 'Real Friends' even a little will love this one; 'Best Friends' is even better than the first.

What an almost painful but honest story of middle school girls! I say painful because This book really explores how it feels to try to fit in when you are a bit different. I loved how it dealt with the main character’s anxiety issues. I have already purchased this for our library collection.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for a chapter sample. I will say that I didnt read it was just a sample and kept trying to turn the page, it was that good!! Hale has great illustrations and a great story line. Im looking forward to reading the whole book.

A story of new girl friendships ans mean girls in middle school, the main character navigates the common insecurities of junior high.

Shannon Hale makes sense of growing up if that is even possible. This book follows up Real Friends. Shannon and her group are now in middle school and things are still complicated as ever. Middle school is hard people. I don't know about boys but being a girl and growing up is confusing and messy. Shannon Hale speaks truth and lets all the ugly hang out. Girls can be mean. Puberty messes with your brain. And then there are boys. I still look back on those days in horror and thank god everyone survived. Some friendships didn't of course because people move on. High school is where you really find your tribe of people, or maybe really college. Middle school is just a big game of chicken and you hope you don't get knocked out first. Shannon Hale said this so much better in Best Friends. These books should be required reading for girls. Nothing changes. These things still happen today.

A great followup to the author's previous book, Real Friends. This will be a must read for anyone that has read Real Friends and wants to continue with the author's story. This will definitely be a purchase for my library.

Appreciate this author and how appealing she is to the crowd I work with. Honest, funny, and investigate relationships.

This was a really cute sneak peak of the finished book. It's hard to glean much in only 18 pages but from what I did read I really liked. Having read Real Friends by the same author last year, I'm very much looking forward to reading the entirety of this book when we get it at the library. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and to any library as well. It would make a great addition to a graphic novel collection.