We Used to Be Friends
Readers rate it 3.2 (6 on Hardcover)
325 pages · Released Jan 7, 2020 · ABRAMS
Content report card
We Used to Be Friends parent’s guide: what’s inside
Violence
What it offers
Educational value
A note for parents
This is a thoughtfully written contemporary YA novel centered on friendship dissolution and coming-of-age during senior year. It handles mature themes like parental divorce, first love, and LGBTQ+ identity with emotional honesty rather than graphic depiction. The dual timeline structure and character-driven narrative make it introspective and relatable for older teens navigating identity and relationships.
Analyzed by AI · 1 month ago
Read it with your kids?
Rate it and suggest an age to help other parents.
From the publisher
Two best friends grow up—and grow apart—in Amy Spalding's innovative contemporary YA novel. Told in dual timelines—half of the chapters moving forward in time and half moving backward— We Used to Be Friends explores the most traumatic breakup of all: that of childhood besties. At the start of their senior year in high... Two best friends grow up—and grow apart—in Amy Spalding's innovative contemporary YA novel. Told in dual timelines—half of the chapters moving forward in time and half moving backward— We Used to Be Friends explores the most traumatic breakup of all: that of childhood besties. At the start of their senior year in high school, James (a girl with a boy's name) and Kat are inseparable, but by graduation, they're no longer friends. James prepares to head off to college as she reflects on the dissolution of her friendship with Kat while, in alternating chapters, Kat thinks about being newly in love with her first girlfriend and having a future that feels wide open. Over the course of senior year, Kat wants nothing more than James to continue to be her steady rock, as James worries that everything she believes about love and her future is a lie when her high-school sweetheart parents announce they're getting a divorce. Funny, honest, and full of heart, We Used to Be Friends tells of the pains of growing up and growing apart. "Amy Spalding knows that best friendships are love stories, and this one is complex, earnest, and unflinching. A must-read for anyone who's ever had or lost a friend." —Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Shelved under
- Young Adult Fiction
- Character driven
- Weak Character Development
- Unloveable Characters
- Diverse Characters
- emotional
- hopeful
- reflective
- sad
- Death of parent
- Alcohol
- Infidelity
Share this guide
ISBN 9781683356455 · ABRAMS