Chris Makes a Friend
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the award-winning author of MELISSA, a sweet and tart story about unexpected friendship and family reconciliation.
THIS IS NOT THE SUMMER CHRIS HAD PLANNED...
Chris does not want to be spending the summer with her grandparents and her little sister. Her grandparents aren't bad -- they just don't let Chris do what she wants to do, which is sit around and read all day. And her sister, Becca, is the opposite, never sitting still and never being quiet.
The good part is that Chris's grandparents are always telling her to go outside and "get some air" -- so she can escape into the woods with a book and get some alone time. Or at least it's alone time until Mia comes along. Mia is also in town for the summer, and she understands Chris in a way that Chris's family just can't.
Soon Chris is sneaking off to spend as much time with her friend as possible. But is there more to Mia than Mia is saying?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Twelve-year-old bookworm Chris isn't thrilled about her and her soccer-obsessed younger sister Becca spending the summer with their grandparents in Massachusetts. While away from her Staten Island hometown, Chris notices that the distance prompts her BFF Vicky to shut her out in favor of new friends, causing Chris to withdraw. During her self-imposed isolation, Chris contemplates the ableism her chronically ill mother experiences, her relationship with her mom's nonbinary girlfriend, and her own gender expression: "I tried calling myself he in my head, just to see, and it was weird and awkward. They was a little better, but still not right." But when Chris meets newcomer Mia, the two become fast friends, exploring town and talking for hours in Chris's secluded reading nook by the creek. What follows is a tender exploration of personal growth and change ("Pretty much all of life is an experiment"), which Gino (Green) delivers via Chris's blunt first-person perspective, her authentic-feeling missteps, and her raw vulnerability, resulting in a perceptive examination of interpersonal connection. Main characters are white-coded. Ages 8–12.
