Great news! Rachel Vail has published a new book and her Friendship Ring series is coming back into print.

I first discovered Vail back in 1991, when the novel Wonder (Scholastic/Orchard) was published. She wrote about hidden aggression in girls before teachers, librarians, and guidance councilors recognized that girls, too, are involved in bullying.

Rachel Vail tells stories of girls longing for friendship, of the dance that is friendship, how it blossoms and grows, then withers and dies and sometimes blooms again.

In the just-released Unfriended, a story told in many voices, we see the seduction of the “popular” girl from several 8th grader’s points of view. There’s Truly, who is at first dazzled by the cool kid’s attention. Then there’s Truly’s former best friend Hazel, whose jealously spirals out of control into bitter vengeance. Vail manages to capture family dynamics as well as the nuances of middle school society in this age of social media.

Penguin/Puffin is also bringing back into print The Friendship Ring. A six-book series that tells the same story from several different 7th grade character’s point of view, it was a tour de force when first published in 1998. Unfortunately, the books were originally released in a small format that seemed targeted to an audience too young to appreciate them. Now reissued in paperback, these are perfect for ages 10 and older and there are no worries that a 4th grader might pick them up.

The first four volumes are now available:

  

Published 6/12/14″

If You Only Knew (Friendship Ring, #1)

Please, Please, Please (Friendship Ring, #2)

  

Published, 9/25/14:

Not That I Care (Friendship Ring, #3)

What Are Friends For? (Friendship Ring, #4)

To come:

Popularity Contest (Friendship Ring, #5)

Fill In The Blank (Friendship Ring, #6)

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2014 at 8:34 am and is filed under Childrens and YA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.