True Friends [Hardcover]

Bill Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

The new girl in Courtney's sixth-grade class shows her a way to survive when things at school and home begin to fall apart.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7-This story of a sixth grader who is buoyed by her friendship with Judy, a handicapped girl, never quite floats. Courtney's social-climbing stepmother spends the family's meager funds recklessly before running away with another man. To add to her family's problems, her brother is arrested for supposedly dealing drugs, the principal thinks she has stolen money from his office, her father seems powerless to help, and her popular friends desert her. No adult intervenes in the situation except for Judy's mother, who tells Courtney, "we don't have time to belly-ache or sit and feel sorry for ourselves." Judy, who has a mobility disability, is entirely self-sufficient, upbeat, and able to defend herself. But she exists less as a character on her own and more as a symbol to show Courtney the way-thanks to her, Courtney learns that "If you fall down, just get up and keep going." Wallace re-creates the faction-ridden social structure of a middle school and has an ear for the dialogue of 12-year-olds, but the many subplots, the large number of minor characters to keep straight, and the didactic theme make this novel a less-than-essential purchase.
Susan Hepler, Alexandria City Public Schools, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. As Courtney enters the sixth grade, life promises to be wonderful. The most popular girl in the class befriends Courtney; she makes the cheerleading squad; and she even begins to get along with her stepmother. All of her newfound happiness disintegrates, however, as one event after another turns her life to shambles. Her brother gets arrested; her friends dump her; and her stepmother leaves, destroying her dad both emotionally and financially. At the height of her troubles, Courtney finds a true friend in Judy, a new girl shunned by the others because she walks with a cane and lives in the wrong part of town. The book is well written, with the foreshadowing of Courtney's troubles seen by the discerning reader. Wallace not only provides poignant glimpses at the way one challenged young person deals with obstacles, but also shows how Judy helps Courtney to realize her own courage in a manner that is inspirational without being sappy. Susan DeRonne

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 169 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1st edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823411419
• ISBN-13: 978-0823411412
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,586,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, May 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: True Friends: True Friends (Paperback)

This book is wonderful, and I will recomend it to anyone. You can also learn something from it and it taught me how to be a better friend

4.0 out of 5 stars Friendship, it's Friendship, June 30, 2006

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: True Friends (Hardcover)

Courtney, 12 has just started 6th grade. She appears to have most of it all - a stepmother who sends her to the stylist every week; a nice wardrobe; a loving father and an older brother in high school. The middle school she attends is very class conscious. The lunchroom hierchy of prime tables goes to students who have attended a better elementary school on down the tables near the garbage bins, which is where students from a poorer school are expected to sit. The same schoolyard justice is applied to the outside as well -- the better fields and equipment go to those who attended the more affluent elementary schools.

Sixth grade starts off with a bang when Judy enters the classroom, replete with cane. Judy, a girl with cerebral palsy lives by the credo of "if you fall down, you get up. Simple as that." She is bright; cheerful and at all times a realist.

Courtney's father is not such a realist. He owns an auto body shop which supports the family and his gold digging wife Emily is ruthless, manipulative and a bigot. She puts Judy down because she lives in a housing project; she uses racial slurs to describe many of the residents in that neighborhood. Only Ben, Courtney's older brother sees through Emily and tries to clue their father in.

Judy is never at a loss for lessons in self sufficiency. When Courtney's former friend's mother refuses to drive her home after cheerleading practice, she is forced to walk. Part of her walk takes her into a seedy side of town where she is hounded and chased by several boys in a classic Mustang. Desperate, she runs to the first apartment and knocks on the door. Whose door should that be but -- Judy's! Luckily, the girl's mother takes her in and also brings home the point about doing for oneself. Poor and proud, Judy and her mother have taken in laundry and sewing for their neighbors. Whenever Judy loses her balance, she is not helped back up, but encouraged with the words that she will get back up by herself.

Matters come to a head when some class picture money is stolen and Courtney is the lead suspect. Luckily, during the worst of times, when her cheerleader pals shun her and school staff acts distrustful of her, she discovers who her friends really are.

4.0 out of 5 stars Ashley's Book Review!!, October 21, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: True Friends (Hardcover)

Coutrney is an average 6th grader. Shs's excited about going back to school and being in middle school. On the first day in homeroom Lacy, one of the most popular girls in school asks Courtney to help her plan a party. Over the next few weeks Courtney and Lacy become really good friends they even go out for the cheerleading squad together. Lacy and Courtney make the 7th and 8th grade squad something 6th graders have never done. Mean while they meet Judy, a handicapped girl. No one knows what to do around Judy. One day Courtneys brother gets arrested because a guy that was riding in his car had drugs with him that nobody knew about. By the next day everyone at school knew what had happened and they thought Courtneys brother was doing drugs. All her friends turned their backs on her. All except one!