Real Friends ranks right up there with Roller Girl and Drama as fantastic graphic novels about girls growing up and navigating school and friends. In this wonderful book, Shannon Hale spares nothing in telling about her childhood. She is desperate to have friends and super excited when she makes one in Adrienne. But Adrienne is a lot more popular and soon becomes part of "The Group" led by Jen. Shannon does too but she is always at the periphery. One of the group is always mean to Shannon and she spends a lot of time hiding in the bushes. It isn't until 5th grade when she ends up in another class than most of the group that she finally gets fed up enough to leave. She starts making friends on her own and having fun and realizes she doesn't need Jen and the group anymore.

This is a fantastic look at dealing with the ins and outs of friendship in elementary school. Girls can be really mean and navigating popularity is hard. I loved how honest Shannon Hale was about her experiences as a girl and how it made her who she is today. I also appreciated the scenes with her family and her older sister who was also struggling. Including the family stories made the whole book even more relateable.