The Best Friend Bracelet

Collier, Nicole D. The Best Friend Bracelet
October 15, 2024 by HarperCollins
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Zaraiah Brown is the best friendship bracelet maker at Hurston Middle School, and gets the most likes for her creations on the school LookBook page, but can't seem to make friends of her own. Her father is a photographer/videographer who is on assignment, and her mother is busy with her travel agency and nursing school. Older brother Anthony often teases Zaraiah for her "occasional awkwardness", and she wonders if that's why she doesn't have friends. When her science teacher, Mr. Clearwater, assigns a group project, no one will work with her, until Theo, aka "The Dark Diva", says she'll work with Zaraiah if she's willing to come to Theo's house, so her mom thinks she has friends. When Zaraiah gets a commission to make a friendship bracelet for her former best friend, Naomi, she's conflicted. She goes to her favorite supply store, and talks to the someone odd proprietress, who sells her an intriguing item. Zaraiah makes a beautiful bracelet, and posts it on the Look Book for October 6, the day of the big homecoming at her school. Or at least, she thinks she does. Kids in her school see it, and think it is awesome. Kele puts it on, and suddenly acts like Zaraiah's best friend. She invites Zaraiah to sit with the "Dolls", the most fashionable clique in the school, but Zaraiah quickly tires of their superficiality. Is the bracelet magic? The next wearer of the bracelet is Alaia, and Zaraiah hopes that the two can hang out at the Pajama jam that she didn't think she'd have anyone to attend with, but she can't keep up with the dances that Alaia wants to do at the talent show that night. She gives the bracelet to Willow next, and the two have a great time hanging out, but Willow's best friend Carla feels left out. Not only that, but Zaraiah has been spending a lot of time with Theo, and the two have shared a lot of their hopes, fears, and secrets with each other. Has Zaraiah been able to make a best friend without the power of the magic bracelet?
Strengths: If I had to guess what the biggest tween fear was, I would guess it is not having any friends. Not dead parents, not being popular; not having someone to sit with at lunch and go to dances and events with. If there were a way to have magical powers and make people be friends with them, tweens would definitely use them! The craft store is just spooky and magical enough to be intriguing, and friendship bracelets seem to be having a moment of resurgence, perhaps because of Taylor Swift? This was constructed particularly well, and I liked how Zaraiah was trying out different types of girls to be her friends and finding out she really didn't have anything in common with them while slowly and steadily becoming friends with Theo. I also appreciated that Theo was being raised by her grandmother because her parents were unable to care for her; there are many of my students in this situation. 
Weaknesses: There were some aspects of the school that seemed odd to me. Middle schools don't usually have homecoming, although some may have sleepovers. Students at my school are definitely not allowed to sell things, cliques are not very pronounced (and we definitely don't have people obsessed with clothing), and the LookBook seemed odd as well. Perhaps these things occur at other schools. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Mlynowski's Best Wishes series, Greenwald's Fortune Tellers,  or other books with magical realism and friendship issues.