Best Friends

December 1, 2008
Gr 3-6-Gemma has always been a high-energy handful, and Alice has always been quiet and orderlybut those differences haven't stopped them from being best friends since the day they were born. Nothing will tear these two apartexcept Alice's parents, who are making her move to Scotland. Gemma tries to cope, but she's overwhelmed by sadness and her fear that Alice might abandon her in favor of a new best friend. Her attempts to keep it together are complicated by her persona non grata status with Alice's parents. It takes a road trip and an incident with Alice's snooty new friend Flora to convince her that a best friend can move away without being lost forever. Wilson blends the spunk of Ramona Quimby with the impulsiveness of Joey Pigza, with the resulting disasters being about what one would expect. Gemma's emotional outbursts are understandable (if theatrical); she walks the fine line between grief-fueled temper and melodrama. If there are unsympathetic characters here, they are the girls' mothers: Gemma's mother's attempts at reassurance are to tell her daughter that she'll make new friends and will forget all about Alice; Alice's mother is pleased that the move separates the girls as she considers Gemma a bad influence. Readers will appreciate the reassurance that it's perfectly okay to feel sad and angry when a friend moves away."Brandy Danner, Wilmington Memorial Library, MA"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2008
When Alices family decides to move to Scotland, 500 miles away, Gemma is devastated. Although completely different from each other, the girls have been best friends for as long as they can remember. They even share a birthday. Alice, always the girly-girl, enjoys the turmoil that surrounds Gemma, who barrels through life. Wilson, a former British Childrens Laureate, once again shows her understanding and respect for her young readers feelings and abilities. Most of the older characters assure the girls that they will soon recover and find new friends; others, including Gemmas grandfather and supportive brothers, respect the friends grief and help them stay in touch. It is the girls themselves, though, who find ways to reassure each other that their friendship will last. A page of small cartoons illustrating important events introduces each chapter. Believable, sympathetic characters; recognizable home and school situations; and plenty of humor (including some of the cake-in-the-face sort) will ensure that this becomes, like Wilsons other titles, a popular read for middle-grade girls.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2009
Gemma's friend Alice is moving to Scotland, and both girls are distraught. They try running away from Alice's farewell party, almost catching the train to London. Gemma is disgraced; Alice moves away; the grownups are unsympathetic. The story manages an ending that is realistic but happy--while new horizons and new friends appear, Gemma and Alice remain "best friends forever."

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2008
Most middle-grade stories about a best friend moving away ultimately offer Adjustment, but Wilson is too fiercely on the side of her young heroines for that. Gemma's friend Alice is moving up to Scotland, and both girls are distraught: "'We can't do anything. We're just children. We don't count,' said Alice bitterly." But they certainly try, running away from Alice's farewell party and almost catching the train to London. Gemma is disgraced; Alice moves away; the grownups, save Gemma's grandfather, are unsympathetic. Wilson is probably the best grownup-hater in the business. Witness Gemma's thoughts about Alice's status-seeking mother: "I wanted to cork her mouth and cook her in her Aga and flush her down her en suite toilet and roast her on her barbecue and trample her to death riding Alice's pony." The story manages an ending that is realistic but happy -- while new horizons and new friends appear, Gemma and Alice remain, in the last words of the book, "best friends forever."

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)