Goodbye Stranger

Goodbye Stranger
by Rebecca Stead
Wendy Lamb Books, 2015. Fiction 289 p.

Bridge, Em and Tab have been best friends for as long as they can remember, but when they hit 7th grade, their friendship is challenged. Em gets a boyfriend and Tab discovers social activism. Bridge makes a new friend in Sherm, but doesn't quite know if their friendship is more than that. Everything blows up when Em feels pressure to text a risky picture of herself to her new older boyfriend. Does friendship mean doing what your friend wants you to, even if you know it is a bad idea? Each character faces challenges that threaten to overwhelm him/her, but the friends learn that if they support and help each other they can make it through. With amazing insight into modern early teen culture, Stead creates sympathetic characters caught up in the first whirlwind of adolescence. Stead won the Newbery with When You Meet Me and may well do it again with this one. This book is available in print, audio CD, ebook and e-audio formats.

Comments

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

Dog Man Read Alikes

Dog Man is a popular graphic novel for middle graders all about the adventures of a half-man, half-dog police officer. With 14 books in the series, many readers can't get enough of these hilarious stories! If your child is looking for more books like Dog Man, here are some great options to try out. Dex Dingo: World's Best Greatest Ever... Inventor By Greg Foley Los Angeles: Disney-Hyperion, 2024. Comic. 157 pages. Dex Dingo doesn't know what he wants to do when he grows up. His classmates all seem to know, but he just doesn't feel like he is the BEST at anything. When a class assignment challenges him to figure out what he wants to be, he decides he wants to become the world's best ever inventor! Filled with beautifully drawn spreads and kid-approved humor, this book is sure to please any Dog Man fan. Troubling Tonsils Written by Aaron Reynolds Illustrated by Peter Brown New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025. Fiction. 71 pages. ...

Review: Faker

Faker By Gordon Korman New York: Scholastic Press, 2024. Fiction. 214 pages. 12-year-old Trey is used to starting over at a new school -- he has the routine perfectly memorized: make new friends, introduce his dad to the wealthy parents of his new friends, and "Houdini" themselves out of there before they get caught running their latest scam. Trey's dad is a master con artist, and Trey has just been promoted to full-partner. Their new scheme for the next big score brings them to the affluent suburb of Boxelder, TN where Trey's dad has cooked up a fake electric car company for investors to buy into. The only problem is that Trey is starting to grow tired of moving around and never putting down roots, especially after forming a fast friendship with Logan and developing a crush on Kaylee, a socially conscious girl in his class. As Trey longs for a normal life, is there any way he can convince his dad to get out of the family business? Gordon Korman is a perennial favorit...

Provo Library Children's Book Blog

Search This Blog