Making Friends by Kristen Gudsnuk

Summary from Goodreads:

Sixth grade was SO much easier for Danielle. All her friends were in the same room and she knew what to expect from her life. But now that she's in seventh grade, she's in a new middle school, her friends are in different classes and forming new cliques, and she is completely lost.

When Danielle inherits a magical sketchbook from her eccentric great aunt Elma, she draws Madison, an ideal best friend that springs to life right off the page! But even when you create a best friend, it's not easy navigating the ups and downs of relationships, and before long Danielle and Madison are not exactly seeing eye-to-eye.

To make matters worse, Danielle has drawn the head of her favorite (and totally misunderstood) cartoon villain, Prince Neptune. He's also come to life and is giving her terrible advice about how to make people like her. When she rejects him and he goes on a rampage during a school pep rally, Danielle and Madison have to set aside their differences to stop him!

Review:

Basically this book was all my geeky teenage dreams coming true. The main character draws her anime crush to life…And then makes the perfect friend for herself. Of course things go wrong, in a fun Sabrina the Teenage Witch kind of way –loaded with embarrassing humor. And then Danielle and her friends “morph” into Sailor Scout versions of themselves to save the school, and kind of the world.

Okay, so forget geeky teenage me dreams. This is like my dream right now. I want to draw fictional characters into existence. And I certainly want a ring that can make me fly, and superpowers. Yes, please. And I’d love to pull in my closest friends to the magic also. The best is when she includes everyone on the magic. It was just amazing.

I love that this book, at its core, is about friendship and the hardships of middle school. Making friends at that age is just the worst. And I related to Danielle on so many levels. I also like that it was kind of a fresh, graphic novel take on bullying. Oh, and the adults in this novel were awful! (Awful and believable) I’m glad they didn’t tell the adults about the magic.

But, the best part of the book is that it’s also this amazing fantasy come to life book. I read it in one sitting, with one, giant, goofy smile on my face the whole time. I could see this as a tv series. I could see this being so many people’s dreams turned reality. Overall, this was just one, goofy, fluffy, middle grade graphic novel. I also loved the colorful art. It was reminiscent of Raina Telgemeier and Jennifer L. Holm. I can see fans of those authors, jumping to read this. I give it a 10/10.