Scan barcode
A review by mrskatiefitz
Best Friends...Until Someone Better Comes Along by Erin Soderberg Downing
3.0
Isabella Caravelli is completely surprised and disgusted when her distant and overworked dad invites her and her mom to join him on a month-long business retreat at a lake resort. The only girls her age in the whole place are Bailey and Ava, both of whom Izzy and her friends often tease mercilessly back at home. Izzy is determined not to befriend either one of them, for fear of certain social suicide, but when her mom confiscates her cell phone she is given no other choice. In spite of herself, Izzy begins to like Bailey and Ava, but she just doesn’t know how they’ll ever be able to continue their friendship once they return to school.
Despite its unnecessarily clunky title, this book is another success for the Aladdin Mix imprint. Like its other recent release, 30 Days of No Gossip, this book once again puts a face and personality to the mean girl stereotype and shows how a bully can reform and become nicer. Especially impressive is author Erin Downing’s grasp of psychology. She never comes right out and states that Izzy is mean because she feels neglected by her parents, but the reader easily grasps that this is the case through her behavior as a character. Bailey and Ava also come across as well-realized people. One never gets the idea that they “deserve” to be bullied or that they are in some way inferior to Izzy. This book makes it impossible not to see the effects of a bully’s aggressive behavior, and provides hope to girls looking to shed their mean girl images.
Best Friends… Until Someone Better Comes Along is most appropriate for grades 4 to 8, and will appeal to fans of the Summer Camp Secrets series by Katy Grant.
Note: Erin Downing also writes The Quirks series, under the name Erin Soderberg.
Despite its unnecessarily clunky title, this book is another success for the Aladdin Mix imprint. Like its other recent release, 30 Days of No Gossip, this book once again puts a face and personality to the mean girl stereotype and shows how a bully can reform and become nicer. Especially impressive is author Erin Downing’s grasp of psychology. She never comes right out and states that Izzy is mean because she feels neglected by her parents, but the reader easily grasps that this is the case through her behavior as a character. Bailey and Ava also come across as well-realized people. One never gets the idea that they “deserve” to be bullied or that they are in some way inferior to Izzy. This book makes it impossible not to see the effects of a bully’s aggressive behavior, and provides hope to girls looking to shed their mean girl images.
Best Friends… Until Someone Better Comes Along is most appropriate for grades 4 to 8, and will appeal to fans of the Summer Camp Secrets series by Katy Grant.
Note: Erin Downing also writes The Quirks series, under the name Erin Soderberg.