Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Dear Friends is a highly relatable, summery middle grade book about what it means to be a good friend and maintain strong friendships. Featuring a likable, enthusiastic protagonist who’s experienced several friendship disappointments (most of her own making), this story manages to be fun and poignant and with an epistolary touch as Eleni records her progress in a diary.

I haven't read a Lisa Greenwald book that I didn't absolutely love and Dear Friends is no exception.

What a sweet story! I loved Eleni and her story. This was a very relatable book. I can totally relate to Eleni's need to figure out where her friendships failed. I have personal experience with a friendship failing and this book even helped me realize some things about the friend that ditched me. I think this book will definitely resonate with my students, too. I was impressed with Eleni's self-reflection and I think many of my students would be able to self-reflect after reading this book.

I loved how we learned about all the relationships in Eleni's life, not just her friends, but her parents, the Canasta group, and the friends in the past she was reconnecting with.

The cover is gorgeous and will inspire so many of my students to read this book! I can't wait to hand it to them!

4.5 stars!

Lisa Greenwald has captured the angst of tween-agers. The transition to middle school from elementary starts to feel more like a field littered with land mines than a fun transition.

Leni categorizes her friends, summer camp friends, school friends, Temple friends. Her life-long friend, Sylvie, is no longer her BFF. Sylvie has aligned herself with some other catty girls whose goal is to exclude all others not in their closed circle. Leni finds herself on the outside. She starts to search for reasons some of her friends are no longer good friends. She loves stationery and writing letters and by doing this she works her way through many of the friendship issues. Of course, most of these letters end up becoming part of her journal, never to be mailed. Leni's mother is over-protective and feels the need to solve her daughter's problems by becoming involved to an unhealthy extent in the day-to-day life of her daughter.

This would be a good read for a middle school book club group.

This was an enjoyable read on a topic that a lot of the intended audience spends a whole lot of time thinking about (friendship!). I thought some particular strengths of Dear Friends were Eleni (the MC/narrator)'s awareness of her parents' issues and how they impacted her, something that will probably resonate with a fair few readers, and the palpable, physical descriptions of emotions.

So good. Bittersweet though. Can’t wait to see all the good reviews float in once it comes out. P.S. I love Lisa Greenwalds books.

Dear Friends is a fun book with lots of interesting character development. I loved all the friendship stories that were interwoven as Eleni discovered new things about herself and the people in her life. The open-ended conclusion was a big conversation starter between me and my middle-schooler.

** As a parent with anxiety, I do wish that the author had taken more care to describe Eleni's mother with more empathy -- many of us are trying our best, and I hope kids reading this book understand adults are allowed to have feelings and struggles. **

Oh middle school drama. I sure don't miss it.

"Dear Friends" follows our protagonist Leni. She has been best friends with Sylvie forever. Things take a turn for the worse when Sylvie doesn't invite Leni to her sleepover birthday party. Leni is obviously heartbroken and wonders how this could have happened. She takes a look back on all her friendships to try to figure out where they all went wrong. Friendships come and go. Some are meant to last forever and some for a short while and that is ok. I think this book would be perfect for kids around 10-12 years old.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

By the time I read my NetGalley ARC of Dear Friends by Lisa Greenwald, I'd forgotten how I found out about it or why I was interested. That kind of thing happens to me rather frequently and often leads to some very positive reading experiences. This was one of them.
Dear Friends begins with protagonist Leni confronting friend problems. She is really, really into best friends and when things go awry with her summer best friend as well as her all around best friend, she is shaken. My first thought was, Oh, this is going to be another one of those books about learning how to accept that relationships change. So true, so true, but I feel I've read enough of those.

But, no! As Leni starts to think about these situations, she realizes that a number of her friends are, indeed, former friends. Is this a pattern? What is going on here? So she sets out to investigate these former relationships and try to determine what happened.

Leni is a bit of a girly girl, interested in traditional girl friendship things, and I could have found her difficult to take as a character. However, her recognition that looking at her past relationships and contacting former friends could have a positive impact on her future gave her depth and made her a much more sophisticated character.

Some might argue that the book becomes a little teachy with what Leni realizes a person, herself included, needs to do in order to be a good friend. However, what she learns and expresses is valuable and a little different from other friend books I've read, which are often about avoiding toxic relationshiops. In this case, Leni is coming to terms with the idea that maybe it isn't her friends, it's her.

The book certainly made this adult reader dwell a little bit on whether or not she's making time for other people. Not enough to do anything about it, but still.

A pretty average read. I could relate with many of Leni's struggles and thoughts as her friendship progressed. I didn't love the writing or the dialogues, but the general sentiment behind the story kept me reading. THis one was just not for me, but others' my like it.

If you've ever had a friendship end and you didn't know why, this is the book for you! Leni loves having a best friend, but when both her home best friend and her camp best friend blow her off in different ways, she goes on a methodical search to figure out why past friendships have done awry. This is a sweet and insightful look at elementary and middle school friendships: how they change, what it means to be a good friend at different ages and a reminder that we can only control how we act. Perfect for fans of realistic stories about friendship, family, and the ups and downs of growing up.

Dear FriENDs’ main character Lani brought me right back to that awkward time in life where friendships mean more than life itself, practically... middle school! Her issues were so real, and so perfect for her age. I was very invested in her "friendship fact finding mission", hoping she’d be able to get back her friendship with Sylvie, her BFF.
I really love the long list of characters that made the well-rounded story come to life, especially her neighbor, Will. It showed how many friendships go away between boys and girls at this age, which can be sad and confusing for the friend that was left behind.
I found Lani’s relationship with her mother quite interesting, too. The mom had issues that you don’t often see in books this age. (It seems like parents are usually kept very much in the background in MG books, so I thought it was interesting how the mom's story tied into the plotline so well!)
I’ll admit, the middle part of the book’s pacing slowed down the story a lot for me, and I started getting antsy for more action or results. (I put this book down several times before I finished reading.) Plus, Lani used a ton of similes which became very distracting. But I kept reading, and the last quarter of the book did not disappoint. It was a very satisfying ending that I feel kids that age will relate to and appreciate. I’d give this story four stars. Great read for kids this age!

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Greenwald did an excellent job of capturing the drama of middle school friendships. Without coming across as condescending to middle grade readers, Greenwald explored how friendships can change throughout the years. I wish I had this book to read to my younger self. Bonus points for excellent representation of kids from many cultures.

Thank you for the advanced copy of Dear Friends. Great read for young readers! Helps in navigating the social impact of Friendships for young kids. Highly recommend!

This is one of the greatest friendship stories I have read in a long time. Len learns a lot of important lessons about friendship as she enters sixth grade. I would recommend this book to adolescents in upper elementary and middle school.

Dear Friends by Lisa Greenwald contains all the tween friendship angst of a girl in the transition to middle school. The main character embarks on a journey of self exploration to learn why her friendships have not worked out in the past and what, if anything, she can do to fix them. I appreciated the way the character categorizes her friendships: everything from a BFF to those on the fringes, which brings awareness to the different forms a friendship can take and the expectations that go along with it. It would be a great book selection for a counseling friendship group or classroom to read together, as the character's actions and reactions are perfect for reflection and discussion.
3.5 stars/5

Advanced copy provided courtesy of the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! Eleni, or Len, has just come back from camp, where her friend Maddie suddenly stopped being her friend. And now, as she enters middle school, it feels like her best friend, Sylvie, has also left her. I really liked the plot and the characters. It was a great read!

Real middle school angst rings true in this story about ending friendships and examining what is true in your life. Although the characters and friendship situations seem rooted in real life, Eleni's approach to solving her issue is a bit unconventional which works for the story. I enjoyed her rationalizing through each past failed friendship and trying to uncover the fatal flaw in each relationship.

I really liked this one! I liked the mission Eleni was on to figure out her friendships.
I really liked all the side characters too, Adelaide, Will, Anjali, Rumi, Elizabeth, Brenna & Charlotte.
I loved that Len loves stationary and pens! I really liked how she learns more about herself as she explores these friendships.
I think her mom needed some help though, she made Eleni feel like she couldn't talk to her because she overracts and freaks out. Just my opinion.
I loved all the different cultural representation too! Especially seeing the Jewish Faith represented well.
I wanted more from the ending! We see this big thing they have been building up and talking about but then ......
I don't want to give any spoilers.
A great middle grade read about friendship!

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!