PHAM: You know, Shannon and I are actually really good friends. Why did you want to be a part of this project? GARCIA-NAVARRO: LeUyen, you illustrate the 'Princess In Black' series as well. And I felt like I had gone - I'd through so many really trying stuff with friends when I was a kid, but it's not the same as just telling her about it. HALE: I don't think it's a good idea and I don't recommend it, but I had a daughter who was really struggling with friendships, and her preferred reading material was graphic novels. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Why did you want to write about this? It's all - as far as my memory holds, it's all true. We should say that this new graphic novel is a sequel to the first book in this series called 'Real Friends,' which talks about friendship in elementary school. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Shannon, I'm going to start with you. She's the author of the bestselling 'Princess In Black' books. It's written by a real Shannon - Shannon Hale. The new graphic novel 'Best Friends' follows Shannon, a young girl in middle school, as she makes and loses friends while trying to find herself.

But as the years pass, cliques form, bullying starts, and it can be difficult to find your place. When you were little, best friends are easy to come by. If you were once a young girl or are raising a young girl, you may know that navigating the treacherous terrain of school friendships is hard.

It's a wonderfully observed portrait of finding one's place in your world. Her digitally colored ink cartooning pulls substantial emotion out of everyday moments (such as Hale retreating to a playground shrub to cry, only to find another girl already there, doing the same) and the imagination-fueled games Hale was forever devising, presaging her writing career. The carefully honed narration and dialogue give Pham plenty of room to work. Hale makes her own flaws evident, and that fairness extends to the bullies in her life, who lash out brutally at times, but whose insecurities and sadness are just as clear. My mom says that's all anyone really needs'), negotiates forever-changing friendship politics, and tries to stay on the good side of her turbulent oldest sister. Over five chapters, readers follow a bookish and shy Hale from her earliest days in school through fifth grade, as she zealously guards her first friendship ('One good friend. Hale's childhood struggles with friends and family come to achingly poignant life in this candid graphic memoir.

Best friends by shannon hale