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Summary
Summary
A breathtaking middle-grade novel about happiness, loss, and an unforgettable dog named Flip
"This story convinced me all over again that love and imagination are life's biggest magic." --Rebecca Stead, author of Newbery Award winner When You Reach Me
Ben Coffin has never been one for making friends. As a former foster kid, he knows people can up and leave without so much as a goodbye. Ben prefers to spend his time with the characters in his favorite sci-fi books...until he rescues an abandoned mutt from the alley next-door to the Coney Island Library.
Scruffy little Flip leads Ben to befriend a fellow book-lover named Halley--yes, like the comet--a girl unlike anyone he has ever met. Ben begins thinking of her as "Rainbow Girl" because of her crazy-colored clothes and her laugh, pure magic, the kind that makes you smile away the stormiest day.
Rainbow Girl convinces Ben to write a novel with her. But as their story unfolds Ben's life begins to unravel, and Ben must discover for himself the truth about friendship and the meaning of home.
Paul Griffin's breathtaking middle-grade debut will warm your heart as much as it breaks it.
"Full of pace and laughter, bruises and heart . Paul Griffin is the sort of writer you're torn between telling the whole world about and keeping all to yourself."-- Markus Zusak , author of Printz Honor Winner The Book Thief
"'Friendship' is an absolutely beautiful, heart-expanding book . I cried, but more than that I felt this giant balloon of love for everyone. This story convinced me all over again that love and imagination are life's biggest magic. It'll make you want to grab hold of everyone important to you and lick them on the nose." --Rebecca Stead, author of Newbery Award winner When You Reach Me
"Some books change the way you see the world. Some change the way you breathe. This book will leave you breathless. This is Paul Griffin's best book yet-- and that's really saying something." -- Patricia McCormick , author of National Book Award Finalist Sold
" When Friendship Followed Me Home is both a beautiful book, and an honest book ; it is, in fact, beautiful because it is honest. We see the pain of loss, and the glory of community. We see love in its many forms, and we witness the truth that love goes on despite all barriers. Cheer for Ben and Halley: it is kids like these who are our hope." -- Gary D. Schmidt , author of Okay for Now
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
After growing up in foster care, 12-year-old Ben Coffin is just happy to have a home and a loving mother; living in Coney Island is icing on the cake. Ben adores the beach, the boardwalk, and the local librarian, Mrs. Lorentz. When he meets her daughter, Halley, there is an instant connection, fueled in part by Flip, a dog Ben rescues from the street. Soon Ben and Halley are best friends, collaborating on a fantasy story and hanging out all the time, even as she undergoes chemotherapy. But Ben has learned that good things don't tend to last, and when his mother dies, and Halley's treatments begin to fail, he has to dig deep to find faith in people, the world, and himself. As in his young adult books, Griffin (Adrift) handles hard topics with penetrating insight and honesty, while balancing painful moments (and there are many) with levity, such as Flip's need to lick everyone on the mouth. Ben wrestles with big questions in relatable, realistic ways, and his huge heart and optimism will win over even the most hardened skeptics. Ages 10-up. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
When Ben's adoptive mother dies, he moves in with his aunt and abusive uncle; canine companion Flip offers comfort, as does Halley, a girl with terminal cancer. Though it's obviously a tearjerker, the book's characters feel real through plenty of ordinary, often funny moments. Frequent shout-outs to books, as well as a story Ben and Halley write together, add particular appeal for literary preteens. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Big, difficult changes lie in wait for Ben Coffin. YA novelist Griffin tries his hand at middle-grade fiction, juggling a dizzying number of plot points and characters, including a bully, a helpful librarian, and a girl in rainbow-bright clothes, named Halley, who is writing a novel about the boardwalk circa 1905. Most important, though, there's a scruffy dog who attaches himself to Ben. Through a number of disappointments and tragedies, Flip helps Ben cope. This is a multi-tissue read Ben's kind adoptive mom dies, leaving Ben no choice but to live with Jeanie, her fussy but well-meaning sister, and Jeanie's partner, Leo, who has alcohol and anger issues. Then Halley suffers a setback against the cancer she's fighting. Ben, a former foster child, has dealt with loss before, but now the amount is overwhelming, and it's Flip who helps see him through. Griffin's characters are unique and charmingly multidimensional. Readers looking for a deep read will take to this story as quickly as Flip takes to Ben.--Cruze, Karen Copyright 2016 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
IS THERE ANYTHING more heartbreaking than a child languishing in foster care? What about being taken in at age 10 by a loving caregiver who becomes Mom and then dies two years later? Or that same bright boy, convinced nothing good ever lasts, befriending a beautiful girl named Halley, only to discover she has cancer and may not be long for his impermanent world. All of this happens to Ben, the smart, wary 12-year-old in Paul Griffin's first middle-grade novel, "When Friendship Followed Me Home." Surely a kid like Ben earns top honors in the life-is-hard Olympics. Yet this bitter-sweet, well-paced book is not depressing. It left me with faith that people can feel discarded, as though everything they love will be taken from them, and still end up whole, if they are touched by love and friendship. There is the human drama of wondering what will become of Ben, if he'll luck into a new family that can heal him, but there are, mercifully, no real villains. Even the school bully and the uncle who strikes Ben in anger are treated with sympathy, more like misguided fools than monsters. Ben does, though, have a lot to worry about. He fears becoming "one of them, the kids who disappeared." The message that his security is tenuous, that one bad thing can collapse his relative stability, looms. When he loses his mom, Tess, and his newly happy existence is threatened - a pleasant home in Coney Island, near his beloved library where, surrounded by books, he feels as if he's "in heaven" - he's understandably angry. He's sent to live with Tess's sister, Jeanie, a well-meaning woman who is more of a hair "fusser" than a hair "musser," the way Tess was. Jeanie has a boyfriend named Leo, whom Ben correctly identifies as an idiot, equipped with bad golf jokes and a beer habit. Just before Tess dies, Ben takes in a tiny stray dog, smaller than a cat, and a permanent bond blossoms between the two wounded souls. Griffin, the author of young adult novels including the dog-centric "Stay With Me," writes about the former stray, Flip, and his overwhelming desire to be with Ben with such vivid freshness it's impossible not to see them off the page and in the room with you. The book soars when describing warmth between beings - Ben and Tess, Ben and Flip, and later, Ben and Halley. Flip becomes a therapy dog, helping children who struggle with reading - a brilliant technique I was charmed to learn about here. The certification allows Flip to accompany Ben wherever he goes, including to see Halley at the library. Halley - "like the comet" - and Ben begin a friendship and innocent flirtation. They share witty repartee and a reading addiction. He calls her Rainbow Girl, because she wears colors head to toe, including the wigs covering her chemo-induced baldness. They make welcome meta-jokes such as that all middle-grade novels require an orphan. Optimistic even in the face of her illness, Halley invites Ben to join her on a project: writing a novella called "The Magic Box." She won't tell him what is inside the tale's fictional box until they get to the end, which frustrates and thrills him. Through their back and forth, we learn of a trauma from Ben's past, and "The Magic Box" begins to mirror what's happening in their lives. The detailed plot of this novel-within-a-novel is at times folded in awkwardly, and could have been pruned. But the act of telling a story together - and the growing sense that Halley is using her remaining strength to heal Ben - works as a device to propel their own stories forward. It's not until the novel's end that Ben learns she has made a real wooden "magic box" for him, with the answer he seeks inside it. THERE ARE HONEST depictions of the way people can both disappoint and save one another. Those who try to help Ben let him down; Ben hurts Halley's feelings; Halley's parents astonish him with their kindness. Most people, we see, are just doing the best they can. Equally memorable are passages giving Coney Island a romantic gloss; Halley and Ben "flying" on the slingshot ride, or the twinkling lights of a 1905 Luna Park model that Halley's father painstakingly makes for her. For Ben, a boy who has lost so much, the revelation of what is inside the magic box feels earned. It provides the promise of a better future for Ben, and a hopeful, glittering conclusion. RENEE DALE writes for publications including GQ, Glamour and Self.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-After 10 years in the foster care system, Ben Coffin rarely makes friends, since he moves so frequently, but he has his sci-fi books and somehow keeps a gentle and positive attitude. Finally, he has the amazing luck to be adopted by a loving, older single mother, and he lives for two glorious years with her in Coney Island. When he rescues a sweet little pup, he meets Halley, daughter of his favorite librarian. Ben never allowed himself to care deeply for anyone, so when the two people to whom he is closest leave, he does not know how to handle the loss. This could have been a melodramatic tale of cancer, death, bullying, and abuse, yet Griffin keeps the story upbeat. Ben is amazingly buoyant, kind, and resourceful yet real and infinitely likable. Griffin reads his own work with perfect inflections and accents. The result is a book that is improved by the audio format, and one whose characters will stay with listeners long after it is finished. VERDICT This emotional tale will appeal to listeners of all ages and will resonate with those who are struggling with hardship or loss. ["If you have middle schoolers who are too young to fully grasp John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and love dogs, give them this sweet tearjerker": SLJ 4/16 review of the Dial book.]--MaryAnn Karre, Vestal, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A former foster child deals with love and loss and love again. The hints are abundant. Twelve-year-old Ben, who has taken most of his life lessons from reading Star Wars stories, is the adoptive son of a loving and understanding but elderly lesbian. The charming mite of a stray dog that adopts the white boy is also old. Most worryingly, the endearingly depicted Halley, his fully rounded new best friend, also white and the daughter of a so-perceptive librarian and a funny magician, is undergoing chemotherapy. What could go wrong here? After he discovers his dead mom on the floor, Ben's remote but well-intentioned aunt and abusive, bumbling uncle, the pair constantly at odds, become his reluctant new parents. What resilient, generous Ben, in a lifetime of foster care punctuated by loss, hasn't learned is how to believe in the lasting power of love. It's irrepressible Halley, her health faltering, and her gentle parents who teach him how to cope with loss without forgetting how to love, even when that love is perilous. Together he and Halley compose an otherworldly tale, The Magic Box, that's a parable of their lives. Those familiar with Griffin's books for teens know that Kleenex may be needed to successfully navigate this wrenching journey, which breathes fresh, warm life into what might have been an overworked clich. Entrancing, magical, tragic, and uplifting. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.