Dear Friends

March 15, 2022
Eleni Klarstein, feeling like a friendship failure after Sylvie Bank ditches her, launches a Friendship Fact-Finding Mission to set things right. Leni is looking forward to starting sixth grade with bestie Sylvie by her side, but even before school starts, Sylvie distances herself. Leni is heartbroken--she lost her camp friend over the summer, too. When she thinks about it, other friendships in the past have also lapsed. In this heartening tale, Leni decides to take a long look at friendship by conducting a dedicated investigation. Through her first-person narration, readers feel up close and personal with all Leni's emotions: the pain, the humor, and the shock. As she reconnects with friends past, Leni discovers much about others and how they experienced their relationships with her, and she bravely faces some hard truths about herself. In the process, Leni brings closure to some relationships and develops new ties. It's the rare individual who can take such an awkward, glorious deep dive, and readers will be grateful to go through everything with Leni as their guide. Ultimately, she learns that sometimes the right thing is accepting that relationships grow and change. In case readers need reminding of this, there's a handy list of "Top Ten Takeaways" for being a good friend at the end. Leni is White and Jewish; there is some diversity in the well-rounded cast of secondary characters. Uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)

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June 1, 2022

Gr 3-7-Len, real name Eleni Belle Klarstein, named after her grandmothers, is a soon-to-be middle schooler. Just back from summer camp, she's anxious to reunite with her best friend Sylvie. It's hard reigniting their friendship since it feels as if they have been apart forever, and Sylvie has made other friends. Len feels left out. Her mother is too controlling and doesn't help her navigate the choppy waters of middle school. Len writes in her journal in an effort to understand conflicts, and she tries not to go down what she calls her "worry spiral." In fact, she feels all her friendships have unraveled, so she decides to embark upon what she calls Eleni Belle Klarstein's Friendship Fact-Finding Mission. She will study all of her ended friendships, retrace all her steps and discover what happened, what was her fault, what she could have done better, and most importantly, how to get Sylvie back to being her true confidant. Readers will be amused by the different friend categories Len comes up with, and her dedication to her mission. Len, who is Jewish, is depicted with light skin and dark hair. VERDICT Middle schoolers trying to navigate ever-shifting relationships will relate to this sweet story. Recommended for juvenile realistic fiction collections.-Lisa Gieskes

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