4,5 stars

Davis has bestowed another fabulous middle grade heroine upon us, along with a series of important lessons about friendship. This one features intriguing characters and a series of events that the target audience (and even those of us with a few more miles) will find relatable and useful.

Readers meet Rylee at a fateful pool party. What begins as an apparently small and innocuous prank devolves into something much more sinister (though age appropriate and well managed throughout the novel). The related events cause Rylee to reenter her middle school life with a desire to leave her old "friends" far behind, find a new path, and seek wisdom on how friendships evolve in general. In an effort to evade her previous group, Rylee finds herself engaged in a series of new pursuits that lead her to cowriting scientific news articles on, of course, friendship. In addition to learning quite a bit about her topic, Rylee makes major realizations about what a true friend does and does not do, improves her approaches (slowly, but still), and makes some revisions to the list of folks she knows are her actual friends.

Davis consistently delivers relatable, round characters who have a little bit of spice but also some really charming moments. Rylee's relationships with her grandparents, mother, and brother make for some meaningful additions to Rylee's struggles at school (and in her own mind), While some of her friendships could come with more backstory to heighten readers' understandings and emotions, the connections with friends reveal so many helpful scenarios. Readers learn about bullying, self-reflection, different kinds of friendships, and the struggles for acceptance between individuals and small groups at this age.

This is an educational but still very enjoyable novel on the ways middle graders (and beyond) experience friendship and the challenges and joys that come along with this. Audiences of all ages will learn a lot and enjoy the journey.

After an embarrassing incident, Rylee wonders why does it still bother her especially when her friends continue to ignore her. She thinks there has to be a reason why people stop being friends. At the Press Club when DeNia says let’s write about the science of friendship, Rylee thinks friendship is about the friends and showing they’re valued. The two girls send out friendship surveys. As Rylee begins to see results and makes new friends she finds it’s okay to be a friend to yourself if you’re alone and that you’re worth spending time with. Does Rylee ever hang out with her old friends again?