Best Friends

Gemma and Alice have been best friends since they were both born on the same day in the same hospital. It doesn't matter that Gemma loves soccer while Alice prefers drawing, or that Gemma is always getting into trouble while Alice is a model student and daughter. But when Alice has to move, their friendship is put to the test. They call each other and write letters, but they're used to seeing each other every day. Can Gemma bear to celebrate her birthday without Alice? Can she stand it when Alice starts making new friends? And with Alice living hundreds of miles away, will they ever see each other again?

“Wilson is doing something important and rare. She's so good, it's exhilarating.” —Philip Pullman

“Wilson blends the spunk of Ramona Quimby with the impulsiveness of Joey Pigza, with the resulting disasters being about what one would expect. . . . Readers will appreciate the reassurance that it's perfectly okay to feel sad and angry when a friend moves away.” —School Library Journal

“While stories about best friends separated by moving are plentiful, Wilson's British fillip makes this one original, with Gemma's strong first-person voice and personality and Sharratt's black-and-white drawings in strip-style sketches before each chapter teasing the reader and forecasting the next turn of events.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Believable, sympathetic characters; recognizable home and school situations; and plenty of humor (including some of the cake-in-the-face sort) will ensure that this becomes, like Wilson's other titles, a popular read for middle-grade girls.” —Booklist