Lone Bean (review)

Bean Gibson can't wait to start third grade, but when she finds herself abandoned by best friend Carla on the first day, things start to go rapidly south: she is targeted by bully Tanisha, befriended by stinky Stanley, and, much to her dismay, forced to choose an instrument by her music-professor father. As the school year progresses, Bean becomes so desperate for friendship that she finds herself attracted to Tanisha's mean tricks (particularly when they are targeted at Carla's new best friend) and even gets involved in a nasty prank or two. Gradually, Bean finds friendship in unexpected places, and, following an unfortunate incident on the playground that results in a broken finger, even reconciles with Carla. There's not much originality in the plot, and the broken-friendship story that guides the majority of the novel is overdrawn; the reading level is also best suited to kids reading above a third-grade level, but it'll be a tough sell to older kids. Still, Bean is an affable character with an amusingly dramatic way of speaking and a lot of spunk. Much of the story is driven by her inner conflicts, and young readers who have faced friendship issues of their own will readily identify with her confusing and conflicting emotions during the start of the school year. Offer this debut novel to fans of happily ending stories about friendships gone awry.