A Friends For Real

Emma searches for her lost favourite toy, and instead finds a true friend. When Emma loses Squeezy, her favourite stuffy, she tries to find another toy to replace her best-loved "pet." It's hard. No one else is exactly like Squeezy, and for Emma, Squeezy is perfect. But instead of finding Squeezy, Emma ends up discovering an unexpected friendship, and that two imaginations are better than one. This touching, smart story of lost-and-found treasures is a great reminder that things don't always go as planned, but they can turn out better than expected. When Emma makes a friend in Frank, she finds what she'd been missing all along! In an equally perfect pairing, Ruth Ohi's delightful art effortlessly brings through the layers in Ted Staunton's nuanced text, bringing together the talents of two of Canada's best-loved storytellers for kids.

“Fresh and funny.” —New York Times Book Review Newbery Honor author Shannon Hale and New York Times bestselling illustrator LeUyen Pham join forces in this graphic memoir about how hard it is to find your real friends—and why it's worth the journey. When best friends are not forever . . . Shannon and Adrienne have been best friends ever since they were little. But one day, Adrienne starts hanging out with Jen, the most popular girl in class and the leader of a circle of friends called The Group. Everyone in The Group wants to be Jen's #1, and some girls would do anything to stay on top . . . even if it means bullying others. Now every day is like a roller coaster for Shannon. Will she and Adrienne stay friends? Can she stand up for herself? And is she in The Group—or out? Parents Magazine Best Graphic Novel of 2017 A School Library Journal Best Book of 2017 A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2017 A 2017 Booklist Youth Editors' Choice A 2018 YALSA Great Graphic Novel

Real, Not Perfect is the first book in a series that travels alongside four friends as they deal with teen life in Riverbend, Indiana. The novel inspires girls and young women to deepen their relationships with God and solve their problems in God-honoring ways. Tessa has lived a trouble-free life as the only child of two loving parents—she is well-liked, gets straight As, is on the competitive swim team, and is active in her church youth group. It’s a pretty perfect life! That is, until she comes home from swim practice one day to find that her parents are divorcing. Along with that, her BFF has moved to Florida, and Tessa gets stuck in Intro to Drama—possibly the worst class ever! Soon Tessa’s mom sinks into despair and Tessa struggles with her anger and hurt. Meanwhile, her BFF posts fabulous pictures of her new life on Instagram. Tessa thinks that everyone’s posts show lives that are way better than the one she has. Why does it seem like everyone else’s life is more perfect than hers? Find out how Tessa’s new friends from Intro to Drama and Alex, her true-blue friend, help her discover that real is better than perfect.

A National and New York Times Bestseller! The creators of Real Friends Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham are back with a true story about popularity, first crushes, and finding your own path in the graphic novel, Best Friends. Follow your heart. Find your people. Sixth grade is supposed to be perfect. Shannon’s got a sure spot in the in-crowd called The Group, and her best friend is their leader, Jen, the most popular girl in school. But the rules are always changing, and Shannon has to scramble to keep up. She never knows which TV shows are cool, what songs to listen to, and who she’s allowed to talk to. Who makes these rules, anyway? And does Shannon have to follow them? A School Library Journal Best Book of 2019 A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book of 2019 A National Public Radio (NPR) Best Book of 2019 One of NBC Today's 26 Best Kids' Books of 2019 2020 Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year List

Following up their mega-bestselling Real Friends and Best Friends graphic memoirs, Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham are back with Friends Forever, a story about learning to love yourself exactly as you are. Shannon is in eighth grade, and life is more complicated than ever. Everything keeps changing, her classmates are starting to date each other (but nobody wants to date her!), and no matter how hard she tries, Shannon can never seem to just be happy. As she works through her insecurities and undiagnosed depression, she worries about disappointing all the people who care about her. Is something wrong with her? Can she be the person everyone expects her to be? And who does she actually want to be? With their signature humor, warmth, and insight, Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham have crafted another incredible love letter to their younger selves and to readers everywhere, a reminder to us all that we are enough.

“If you’re like us, you probably have questions about friendships. Maybe you’re not sure if someone is a real friend or the other kind.” So goes the story of Jack, Jen, Chris, Abby, Mateo, and Michelle—six students trying to figure it all out in middle school. Real Friends vs. the Other Kind, the second book in the Middle School Confidential series, follows these characters as they work to forge friendships while navigating tough social situations. The book offers insider information on making friends, resolving disputes, and dealing with other common middle school concerns—like gossip, exclusion, and cyberbullying. There’s also expert advice on crushes, peer pressure, and being there for friends who need help. Filled with character narratives, quizzes, quotes from real kids, tips, tools, and resources, this book is a timely and engaging survival guide for the middle school years.

Even when life is hectic and harried, every woman has a God-given longing for relationship, and her female friends play an important role in filling that. Oliver and Smalley help women distinguish between self-centered, insecure, childish relationships and other-centered, healthy, "grown-up" relationships. Using personal anecdotes and scriptural principles, they explain ten characteristics of a grown-up friend and offer ideas on how readers can develop these attributes in themselves. Finally, they tackle the tough issues of friendships, such as how to support a friend in crisis, how to work toward forgiveness when a friend has injured you, and how to determine when it is best to let a friendship go.