iVillage

Parents need to know this book is about best friends in elementary school. They share, they disagree, they get mad at each other. The children are honest with themselves and how they feel.Families can talk about friendship. Why can cliques send the wrong message about friendship? What is the difference between friendship and cliques? What does it mean to be a good friend.

This is a wonderful book on the ups and downs of friendship that will keep the interest of early readers, especially girls who have a BFF like Nikki or Deja that they do absolutely everything with and know everything about.

Like all kids learning how to be friends, Nikki and Deja have their moments of bossiness, selfishness, and envy -- one of the girls is just too good at jacks. And when a new girl moves into the neighborhood they both decide they don't like her and form a club to exclude her.

Author Karen English does a great job of showing these tricky friendship dynamics, and throws in good messages about the dangers of cliques and the importance of saying you're sorry -- all in an easy-to-read format with expressive illustrations that help ease new readers into the chapter book format.