Best Friends

Told from alternating POVs, popular Anthony and timid Leah grapple with a bullying incident at school.

After feelings for her best friend Deve become complicated, thirteen-year-old African American Birdie makes a wish with a West African trickster god that goes awry.

After an accident, seventh graders Joya Mia, and Kiki help their best friend Greer cope by signing up for a triathlon.

Twelve-year-old Raj is happiest flying kites with his best friend, Iqbal. As their kites soar, Raj feels free, like his beloved India soon will be, and he can’t wait to celebrate their independence. But when a British lawyer draws a line across a map, splitting India in two, Raj is thrust into a fractured world.

Eleven-year-old Lou wishes she could turn back time to mend her friendship with Francie after a terrible fight, so when Lou befriends Cece she is eager to prove herself, but as she uncovers the truth about Cece’s family, she grapples with what being a good friend means.

Close friends Melanie “Mel” Roberts and Ray Halfmoon are from different Indigenous Nations, but become as close as siblings after their families move in together. And they soon welcome a distinguished guest: Great-grandfather Bat, whose wing is injured, has taken refuge in their old oak tree.

Baker extraordinaire Laila Thomas and budding journalist Lucy Flores are living it up at the top of the junior high food chain as eighth graders. But between busy schedules and kinda-boyfriends, these two best friends haven’t gotten to hang out as much.

Eleven-year-old Sophia endeavors to prevent her increasingly forgetful eighty-eight-year-old neighbor and best friend Sophie from entering assisted living, and in the process, uncovers unexpected stories of war, loss, and hope.