Real Friends (Real Friends, 1)

In Real Friends, acclaimed author Shannon Hale and talented illustrator LeUyen Pham collaborate to create an engaging graphic memoir that explores the complexities of friendship during childhood. The story follows Shannon, who has always shared a close bond with her best friend Adrienne, but their friendship faces a significant challenge when Adrienne begins to spend time with the popular Jen and her exclusive group, known simply as The Group.Shannon's journey is filled with emotional highs and lows as she navigates the ups and downs of this shifting dynamic. She grapples with feelings of insecurity and exclusion, questioning whether she will remain friends with Adrienne or if she is destined to be left out of the social circle dominated by bullying and competition for popularity.Real Friends is a heartfelt exploration of the formative years of friendships, highlighting the struggle to stand up for oneself and find genuine connections. With relatable themes and humorous illustrations, this graphic novel serves as a perfect conversation starter for discussing feelings of belonging and self-worth. It's an uplifting and insightful read that resonates with both children and adults, making it an essential addition to the libraries of fans of contemporary children's literature and graphic novels.

I just read the first book and I liked the memoir. It's an interesting tale about real friendship and I loved it.

From my twin girls who are nine years old:“It’s good for kids because they can know what to do if they ever get bullied. It’s entertaining.”“It was really good and it helps with kids who are having problems being bullied. And I like to learn about other people’s lives.”

My granddaughter really wanted this book and began reading it as soon as she received it. She really liked the stories about friends. I think that she applied the good ideas for friendships to her relationships even though she is eight years old. Perfect age to read this book.

It’s so fascinating to realize we all deal with the same insecurities and struggles as kids, yet still manage to alienate each other and have trouble being sympathetic.While reading this I felt so seen. I dealt with the so many friendship troubles because of constantly moving schools and being the odd one out. Along with cultural barriers and parents who tried their best but weren’t ‘in the know’ about many trends or activities.As I’ve grown up those experiences have softened in my memory but I can’t deny their harshness ultimately encouraged me to be kinder to myself and others. Once you know what it means to be lonely and sad, you take a moment to give others grace.

Great book it’s amazing. I love the frequency of the frequency of the book. I love everything of the book.

It was so heartwarming seeing girls at young ages making so many friends and having such fun together, but it has its upsets sometimes I feel like Shannon and I get pushed down but now I can’t remember the truly amazing phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” Oh and shout out to Shannon hale for being brave and never letting the words push you down.

Shannon Hale is one of my favorite authors. I've read most of what she's written. I was definitely intrigued when I heard about this graphic novel based on her own childhood memories. It's not entirely memoir as Shannon herself explains in the back of the book. After all, human memory is certainly fallible and no two people experience the same situation in exactly the same way. Plus, she's changed a lot of names. But it's clear that the emotion behind the story is real. It certainly felt real to me, maybe because I could relate to some of the struggles that young Shannon has making, keeping, and losing friendships. Friendship can be a tricky thing, especially when clicks get involved as they so often do in elementary/middle school.When Shannon's dear friend, Adrienne, becomes part of "The Group", she tags along, hoping that she isn't going to lose her one and only friend. And she doesn't, not exactly, but she's not fully welcomed into "The Group" either. As Shannon's relationships with her friends fluctuate, she struggles with the unkindness that occurs as well as her own anxieties and frequent illnesses. In addition to her confusion about her friends, she struggles to get along with her older sister, Wendy. Shannon's dream of being a writer slowly develops as she works hard to figure out how to handle her relationship difficulties.LeUyen Pham does a phenomenal job illustrating Shannon's experiences. Not only does each person shine through in personality and appearance but Pham uses her own imagination to show the imaginative play that Shannon so enjoyed with her friends (I loved how Shannon always imagined her self as a strong female superhero of sorts, this so reminded me of the games I loved to play as a kid). In addition, demonstrating in a sometimes amusing, but often sad way the challenging relationship that Shannon had with her sister, Wendy is sometimes depicted as a giant, rather intimidating bear.This is a book that is bound to be loved just like Rain Telgemeier's Smile and Sisters, simply because young readers will be able to relate to it so well.