The Friendship Riddle Paperback – 23 August 2016

Megan Frazer Blakemore describe muy bien los desafíos de estar en la secundaria, que te dejen algunos amigos mientras haces unos nuevos. A Ruth, le está costando encontrar su lugar y no quiere cambiar en un momento en que todo está cambiando en su visa. A través de unas pistas, descubre nuevos amigos y aprende mucho sobre la amistad y compartir aventuras con los que más te importan. Merece la pena leerlo.

Ruth likes to think of herself as a lone wolf. Her former best friend, Charlotte, abandoned her for a more popular group of friends when they got to middle school. Who needs friends anyway? Her favorite fictional character, the half-human half-elf Taryn Greenbottom, doesn’t, does she? Of course, Ruth’s mothers may disagree. While in the library, Ruth finds a riddle tucked away in a book. It promises to lead to more clues. She finds herself faced with a quest not unlike her favorite fantasy heroine. If only she and Charlotte were still friends, they could conquer the puzzle together. Maybe this quest could be the spark to bring them back together. Or perhaps Ruth will need to open herself up to some new friends.Megan Frazer Blakemore deftly juggles three plotlines in “The Friendship Riddle.” There’s the personal struggle of friendship – growing apart, meeting new people, opening oneself up to trust others. There’s the quest with its twists and turns of seeking out clues and solving riddles. Finally, there’s the middle school spelling bee in which Ruth wants to participate (a cute touch is that the chapter titles are like sample spelling bee words). Each of the plotlines ties in nicely and proceeds at a quick pace.Ruth is a charming protagonist. In many ways, she’s something of a stock character. That’s not to say she isn’t well developed, but she possesses the qualities one has come to expect in such literature. She’s witty and precocious, preternaturally intelligent and stoic for her age. But she’s quite enjoyable and remains relatable. There’s also some complexity. Maybe she’s not just a hapless victim abandoned by her friend. Maybe her controlling personality contributed to the break up. In any event, the novel is told entirely from her perspective, and she’s a fun companion for the journey. Because she’s so unusually mature and intelligent, her lack of perception and failure to act in a couple scenarios leads to a feeling that some of the tension is contrived.Assuming that “The Friendship Riddle” is a stand-alone novel, it was surprising that the ending wasn’t as tidy as might be expected. While most things are resolved, a few questions remain.Less mature readers might be troubled or embarrassed by a subplot involving the girl’s locker room and adolescent development or lack thereof. Our hero confronts the situation and its fall out with all the aplomb one would expect from someone so mature. Although the section was relatively small, there was a frankness that was refreshing on the one hand but curious on the other. One wonders how young readers might react, particularly in mixed company.Overall, “The Friendship Riddle” was quite fun. It’s a quick read featuring valuable lessons and an endearing protagonist. The supporting cast is also quite colorful.

The Friendship Riddle is a delightful new middle grade novel. It deals with kids who've recently entered middle school, and it really captures how difficult those years can be. The heroine, Ruth, started a new school for 6th grade. She's with some of her old schoolmates, but there are new kids as well. It's a time of lots of changes for Ruth, as her childhood best friend, Charlotte, has dumped her to join a more popular group led by the awful Melinda, who's a Regina George in training. Ruth is a bit of a loner. She doesn't mind being a little different than everyone else. She's been raised by two mothers, and she's used to being unconventional. (It's nice to see that Ruth having two mothers isn't really an issue in the book. The only parental issue is that one of Ruth's mothers is the sort of parent who is very well meaning, but ends up making their child's life more difficult.) Ruth stumbles upon some mysterious messages in old library books and begins a quest to solve the riddles in the messages. At first, she hopes that the notes will bring and her and Charlotte back together, but when that doesn't seem to be happening, Ruth decides to go it alone in her quest, even though there are new friends who really want to help her.The author really captures the changes and uncertainty of middle school. Ruth is 11, about to turn 12, which is such a big time of change. Puberty is starting, and most of the girls have started wearing bras, except Ruth, who doesn't see the point in wearing a bra when she's still flat-chested (as are most of her classmates). Other kids are developing crushes, but Ruth doesn't think she's ready for that. Having lost her best friend, Ruth isn't sure she's ready to take a chance on new friends, and it takes the quest to make her open up to people.I loved Ruth. She's such an appealing character, and her journey in the book works really well. There's a lovely message about the importance of friendship and learning to take a chance on new people and new things. I liked that the author didn't try to tie everything up in nice neat package. It would have been unrealistic for Ruth and Charlotte to suddenly become best friends again, and that's not what happens. Instead, they come to an understanding that they still care about each, and there's hope for friendship in the future, but they're not going back to the way they were, and that's ok. And I liked this outcome because Charlotte is the absolute worst, the kind of person who doesn't say a word to defend Ruth when Charlotte's new best friend is tormenting her. Ruth's new friends are much more interesting, and they accept Ruth for who she is.Kids in the target age will likely enjoy this book, especially those who might be struggling with the transition to middle school. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I often read books with my daughter that are above her age range and reading level. We've been reading chapter books together for awhile and she usually has no problem following the story line even if it takes a few weeks to read it. Since a lot of the books that I grab are for young adults for the ones that I teach, she's always been intrigued by the bigger books that mommy reads and all the big kids enjoy. So, anyways that is why my daughter and I decided to give this book a try.It was definitely a hit and miss book. The mystery is not involved enough to really pull you in and there is quite a bit of introspection on what makes a good friend and when to trust someone or not. The idea of relationships is the point of the book. The problem is that it almost gets in the way of moving the plot forward. I felt that it was very slow, so I can't even imagine what my daughter thought. She didn't want to finish the book with me, so we started something else and I stubbornly went through the end. I actually didn't find it to be a bad book, but the pacing is too slow to keep interest in the mystery, which I believe is the motivation and draw for a younger audience. I would shoot for the higher end of this age group.

In The Friendship Riddle, Blakemore creates a many layered plot by taking a number of threads and weaving them into a fantastic tapestry. Ruth has many problems - typical middle school problems, but troublesome nonetheless. Her mom has a tendency to complain about things at school through email campaigns, leaving Ruth to be teased and embarrassed. Her other parent, Mum, travels for work and is gone too often. Her lifelong best friend has abandoned her for a new, more popular best friend. Ruth envisions herself as a Lone Wolf, needing no one and nothing except her beloved Taryn Greenbottom fantasy books. Then one day she finds an origami envelope inside in an old library book. In the envelope is a card with a riddle. Solving the riddle leads her to another envelope and another clue. Even though Ruth thinks of solving the chain of riddles as her own personal quest, she finds she can't do it all on her own and one by one she invites her classmates to join her. This is a gentle, but engrossing mystery and a realistic book that highlights the magic of everyday things. I was sad when it ended and I can think of no better recommendation than that for a book. Great for uppper elementary and middle school students.