Synopses & Reviews
Sarah promised Marjorie when they were five years old that they would be best friends forever. But that was before seventh grade, when everything changed—everything except Marjorie. While Sarah wants to meet new people and try new things, Marjorie still likes doing the same things they always did. It seems the more time the two girls spend together, the more time Sarah wants to spend apart. How did a promise that was so easy to make become so hard to keep?
With beautifully drawn characters and vivid details, this incisive novel portrays middle school in all its complexity—both the promise of what is to come and the pain of what must be left behind.
Review
"A quiet, strongly realistic novel."--
Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"This changing-friendship novel is refreshingly presented without villains or victims. . . . A perceptive, poignant novel of middle-school identity and friendship."--
The Horn Book "A particularly accessible [story]. . . . Readers will sympathize intensely with Sarah's dilemma."--
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"The dialogue is right-on, and readers will recognize the vicious social warfare from the lunchroom to the school bus."--Booklist
"A heartwarming story about life's unexpected lessons, through the eyes of a girl experiencing them for the first time."--School Library Journal
Synopsis
Sarah promised Marjorie when they were five years old that they would be best friends forever. But that was before seventh grade, when everything changed--everything except Marjorie. She still wears babyish clothes and wants to watch movies about space aliens and brings smelly sandwiches for lunch. Not only has Sarah lost interest in those things, but the things that do interest her--boys and chorus--are taking her further away from Marjorie. How did a promise that was so easy to make become so hard to keep? With beautifully drawn characters and vivid details, this incisive novel portrays middle school in all its complexity--both the promise of what is to come and the pain of what must be left behind.
About the Author
Gina Willner-Pardo is the author of 15 books, My Mom and Other Mysteries of the Universe, which Kirkus Reviews said "Resonate[s] with authenticity." Her other books include Daphne Eloise Slater, Who's Tall for Her Age and Figuring Out Frances, which won the Bank Street College of Education Josette Frank Award and which School Library Journal called "a small treasure." She lives in California.