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OLDER FICTION
Vail, Rachel

Bad Best Friend

307 pp. | Viking | March, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-0-451-47945-7 $16.99
(2) YA Protagonist Niki has been best friends with Ava since the latter moved to their small Maine island in third grade. So Niki is crushed when, in eighth grade, Ava suddenly ditches her for the popular girls. She blames herself: she didn't give Ava enough attention; she's immature; she's annoying; and so on. Niki has a tendency toward negative self-talk; she dreams of having a time machine to "erase all my dorkiness." What's worse, she isn't sure what to do about the fact that she like-likes her next-door neighbor, and she's worried about her younger brother, Danny, who's undergoing testing for an autism diagnosis. To her surprise, however, Niki discovers that she isn't alone: her best friend before Ava, Holly, is there for her. And Holly is totally different from Ava; she shows Niki what having a real friend is like, teaching her that mistakes are, if not erasable, then forgivable. Through her protagonist's pitch-perfect narration, Vail re-creates the experience of being thirteen, from the awkwardness to the cutthroat friendship dynamics to the slang ("I'm fully tragic," Niki explains to her classmates about needing glasses). The subplot about Danny adds warmth to the drama; it's clear that Niki is a compassionate sister in a loving family, even though she doesn't always see it that way. With a few missteps, she gains confidence; by book's end, when she is finally able to stand up to Ava, it's with the knowledge that she is complete--and cool!--without her.
Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2020

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