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A review by librarianlizreads
When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin
4.0
Please note that this review is written for my use as a librarian and may not appeal directly to readers. Please review at your own risk.
Accelerated Reader has this book listed as being for middle grades, or readers in 4th to 8th grade. They also have listed that this read is worth 7 AR points.
I can’t even with this book. It’s so heart jerking but it is also so beautiful. It really sat well with me because it starts out with a young man who loves geeky things like Star Wars. My kind of people. I think that Paul Griffin did a really great job of writing this from a young man’s point of view. I don’t often get to read books that I can easily tell are narrated by a guy. I enjoyed that.
This story will make you believe in the good of humanity and remind you that real magic does exist. Just prepare yourself for sadness as well. It’s hard to not love Ben and in loving Ben, you suffer with him throughout his story. It is such a good story though.
Summary:
-Do not read past this point if you would like to avoid spoilers-
This is the story of Ben and Halley, two truly incredible kids. Ben has a hard life. He goes from foster homes where he loses a dear friend, to a perfect mom for him, to losing his mom, getting beaten up by bullies, and eventually hit by his aunt’s boyfriend. Yet Ben remains a shining star through everything. He’s an incredible young man and a small dog who follows him home brings Ben into a beautiful new world and helps everything work out. Flip, the dog, also unites Ben with the most important person in his life, Halley (like the comet). She is a beautiful rainbow of a girl who becomes Ben’s best friend and more. She helps Ben realize that his superpower is being an awesome human being and Ben helps Halley face the imminent death that her cancer is bringing. It is terribly sad and should perhaps be read with caution for younger readers, but it is real and it is passionate and it hits you right in the feels. There is a brief reference to lgbtq in a pure acceptance sort of way. Ben and Halley teach readers that everyone in the world deserves love and when you figure that out, you can survive anything.
Accelerated Reader has this book listed as being for middle grades, or readers in 4th to 8th grade. They also have listed that this read is worth 7 AR points.
I can’t even with this book. It’s so heart jerking but it is also so beautiful. It really sat well with me because it starts out with a young man who loves geeky things like Star Wars. My kind of people. I think that Paul Griffin did a really great job of writing this from a young man’s point of view. I don’t often get to read books that I can easily tell are narrated by a guy. I enjoyed that.
This story will make you believe in the good of humanity and remind you that real magic does exist. Just prepare yourself for sadness as well. It’s hard to not love Ben and in loving Ben, you suffer with him throughout his story. It is such a good story though.
Summary:
-Do not read past this point if you would like to avoid spoilers-
This is the story of Ben and Halley, two truly incredible kids. Ben has a hard life. He goes from foster homes where he loses a dear friend, to a perfect mom for him, to losing his mom, getting beaten up by bullies, and eventually hit by his aunt’s boyfriend. Yet Ben remains a shining star through everything. He’s an incredible young man and a small dog who follows him home brings Ben into a beautiful new world and helps everything work out. Flip, the dog, also unites Ben with the most important person in his life, Halley (like the comet). She is a beautiful rainbow of a girl who becomes Ben’s best friend and more. She helps Ben realize that his superpower is being an awesome human being and Ben helps Halley face the imminent death that her cancer is bringing. It is terribly sad and should perhaps be read with caution for younger readers, but it is real and it is passionate and it hits you right in the feels. There is a brief reference to lgbtq in a pure acceptance sort of way. Ben and Halley teach readers that everyone in the world deserves love and when you figure that out, you can survive anything.