5 stars for this graphic novel that realistically deals with grief. After their friend Rosie dies unexpectedly, Millie, Florence, Gabby and Claire all grapple with their grief in their own ways until they all realize they need each other to keep going.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. A graphic novel about friendship, death, and how to properly move on after the death of a friend.

This was an interesting way to explore grief in a middle grade audience though it is somewhat unfocused. While we see different expressions of grief the addition of the mystery/adventure plot isn't especially well integrated.

What a great way to help young adult readers learn about grief and the different ways people deal with death and the grieving process. I would have LOVED this book as a young adult. In fact, I searched for something just like this to help me through the death of my best friend in high school.

It is so important for us as adults, parents and educators to help children learn about death and grief and how people deal with it in different ways. What an amazing book and tool for educators, counselors and parents.

Though I am only able to give five stars here- I would give it an extra star for such a priceless book!!!!!!

Grateful to have received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley & Random House Children's, Knopf Books for Young Readers.

This is a great book about dealing with the grief of a friend’s death. The characters are drawn as animals but act like human kids. This was in interesting choice, but I think it provides a buffer for dealing with a hard topic. I loved that it showed the different ways each girl in the friend group grieved, and how they came together to help one another in times of crisis. A fantastic book for upper elementary, ages 10+

I well-done story about dealing with grief following the death of a friend. Inspired by the death of the author's childhood friend, this story is emotionally rich. Using animals in place of the human characters was actually fairly effective and sort of rounded out this cozy story about moving on after loss.

This is such a fantastic graphic novel that deals with a very hard topic for most kids to discuss, the death of a friend. It also deals with grief and how hard it can be to come to terms with losing someone that you loved in a very abrupt way. I think that this deals with all of those things and more in a fantastic way. The artwork is very colorful and I loved the expressions of all of the characters. Overall, a really well-done graphic novel.

"She would have been thirteen . . "

For these four friends, nothing has been the same since their pal Rosie died. Without her to help smooth things over, they find themselves fighting a lot more often. But can they all unite to solve a mystery that might lead them closer to each other in Rosie's memory?

This is a wonderful graphic for middle grade readers about death, and life, and the different ways we grieve.

The author masterfully portrays the emotional journey of each character as they navigate the aftermath of Rosie's death. Through this heartfelt journey, Millie and her friends not only confront their grief but also discover the resilience and strength within themselves. This story including hope and resilience makes it an amazing story for children.

Beautiful book full of heart. I really loved the art style and the message behind this cute story. I highly recommend to all ages.

I really admired this sweet graphic novel that shows a group of tween friends navigating grief, each in their own ways. The art was very crisp, beautiful and emotional. I really related to Millie and her friends and the ways in which they each handled grief through different emotions (anger, trying to reconnect with their lost friend, pulling away, and being impulsive and "annoying"). The characters felt fleshed out with very real and human emotions. I found it cute and charming that all of the characters were styled after familiar animals on the East Coast. I did find the central "mystery" to be a little bit anticlimactic and would have liked to see the central emotional arcs be a bit stronger.

What a beautifully done middle grade graphic novel about grief. Dear Rosie is a must read for all! The illustrations are beautiful as well!

This is a story about unexpectedly losing a friend. This is a story about grief. This is also a story about 7th grade and the group of friends who have to find their way after the death of their friend Rosie. I remember 7th grade. It wasn't easy and I cannot imagine how much more difficult it would be should one of my friends died. IF that had happened, I would have wanted a book like Dear Rosie to help me through it [and perhaps some really good therapy]. Well-written, fantastically illustrated [seriously. The illustrations just make this book] and a perfect description of what middle-grade is like [all the emotions and swooning and petty squabbles amongst those who love each other deeply], PLUS dealing with the death of a beloved friend, and I felt so much of what I dealt with in my own 7th grade year all over again [even though no one died, I was suffering from the loss of my parent's marriage and my fathers love for a new woman and I have learned as an adult, grief is grief and is 100% not linear] and I think this is one of the most realistic middle-grade books I have read in a long time.

I think this book has come at a really good time considering where we are in the world and that if you are a teacher, parent, caregiver etc, you need to be buying this book and reading it and then keeping it close because chances are, someone will cross their path that desperately needs this book and will be ever grateful someone shared with with them.

VERY. WELL. DONE.

Thank you to Meghan Boehman and Rachel Briner for being brave enough to revisit their memories of 7th grade and to write about the loss of their own friend when they were in college - even though this is a fictional graphic novel, it really shows that the two writers have experienced the same grief as the girls in the book and their experiences really make this book shine [and makes it much more true-to-life]. Thank you also to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Knopf Books for Young Readers for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a gentle and sweet book well tackling a really tough concept for middle grade. This friend group loses one of their friends to an accident and it's told over the next year of them trying to figure out how to move on with their lives. The story itself was very sweet very cute but my favorite part by far was the art style and the animal characters. I feel like it's kind of rare or on the rare side to find audio books that are fully colored and not just a limited palette and this one has so much detail in intricacy within every single panel and I loved it a lot.

This was lovely. Normally I loathe books with anthropomorphic animals, but I didn't mind this because the art is really beautiful. The story is too, all about growing up, being lost and losing someone you love as well as the different ways we all cope with all those things.

Dear Rosie is a graphic novel that follows four friends after the loss of Rosie, the fifth member of their group. Each girl is processing their grief differently. Millie, the main character, is trying to find Rosie and connect to her. She believes there are pieces of her still out in the world. And when she finds a sketchbook full of mysterious markings that her friend used to draw, she knows that the possibility of finding a piece Rosie is greater.

The story was beautifully told. Friends who are growing disconnected due to the way they are processing their grief. Girls who stick together when things get tougher. The concern from adults, the tribulations of being a pre-teen. And the hope that comes with finding a light, a piece of the loved one.

The art was super cute! It was a little funny that the woodland creatures would see other animals that were actual animals though. The coloring was both bright but soft. The facial expressions, the details. It was all great.

It was very personal to me, especially after reading the author’s note and realizing the experience of losing a middle-school friend came in college. The feeling of loss, looking to friend’s for guidance, realizing we’re all processing it differently. It’s hard. It was written and portrayed well.

This is a good, emotional yet cozy graphic novel for young readers. It teaches them about grief in a very comforting way. Perfect for readers of Maria Scrivan and Raina Telgemeier.

I received an electronic ARC from Random House Children's through NetGalley.
Tender look at how these friends cope and heal after one of their circle dies. Rosie is an active part of the story though her death took place before it begins. We meet Millie as she continues to dream about Rosie but can never catch up with her. She then connects with the other three friends in their group and we see each trying to cope in their own ways. All of them continue to grieve and hurt and feel lost until they share with each other. The story conclude on the one year anniversary of her death. The four have come through arguments, foolish choices, grief and healing to celebrate Rosie together. Boehman sensitively pulls readers in to share the grief and healing process and keeps the methods real for middle school kids. The artwork enhances the story and offers clues to actions behind expressions.

A heartfelt, gentle graphic novel about friends dealing with grief and growing up, with a little bit of a mystery thrown in. Recommended for any middle grade graphic novel collection.

https://noflyingnotights.com/blog/2023/02/23/dear-rosie/

I have had this ARC for a little while but I am getting caught up on writing all my reviews now! Thank you so much to NetGalley for this title.

This was such a touching story that deals with the sensitive topic of death & grieving and handles it with such care and gentle storytelling for younger readers. This close knit friend group all go on their own journey through grieving the loss of their friend. Death is always especially difficult to tackle when it's a young person (or an animal character in this instance) but the topic is dealt with in a way that I think is palatable for kids and realistic to feelings they might be feeling themselves without being too overwhelming/adult.

I gently and cautiously recommend stories such as this to anyone who has ever lost someone close to them. Adults can truly gain so much from reading middle grade stories especially ones that discuss emotional topics such as this. Dear Rosie has a lot of heart and it personally brought me comfort as I related to the story and many of the emotions the characters experienced.

4 Stars!

The friend group at the heart of Dear Rosie feels familiar, without filling out stereotypical middle school clichés. Each friend is responding in their own way to the loss of the fifth member of their friend group: Rosie. Despite the anthropomorphic character designs, this graphic novel is grounded and naturalistic, the washed-out color palette and stretches of silence in the frames reinforcing the themes of grief and isolation. While not saccharine or offering platitudes, this emotional graphic novel nonetheless offers readers catharsis and hope.