100 Books Like How to Lose All Your Friends

My granddaughter also introduced me to Elephant & Piggie. Cautious, plan-ahead Gerald Elephant and free-spirited Piggie are best friends, kind and open about their emotions, but sometimes oblivious. We’ve read the more than two dozen tales in the series, and it’s hard to pick a favorite. The stories are designed for early readers. The text shows in cartoon balloons, with repeated phrases, but it doesn’t have the stilted quality and vocabulary limitations that sometimes bog down easy-to-reads.

Gerald is licking a very yummy ice cream cone when he thinks of Piggie. Should he share it with her? The yumminess makes him want to keep it to himself; but Piggie would love some. He wrestles with his conscience so long that the ice cream melts into a puddle.

Have you ever dreamed of being someone and somewhere else? I remember being a kid in the summertime when the hot summer in Omaha, Nebraska felt sooooo long and there was nothing to do. Styx Malone (foster child & the cool kid) and brothers Caleb and Bobby Gene are feeling that angst too. To make life more exciting, they concoct a plan to exchange one small thing for something better until they achieve their “wildest dreams” (motorbike). Sometimes it’s the baby sister that’s exchanged for fireworks (I mean, that’s pretty funny, but don’t worry, the baby sister is given back and they get to keep the fireworks). Of course, everything goes awry and gets dangerous and…well, read this book and you’ll be turning the pages at a mad pace, too!

This made me laugh, and it made me cry. I challenge anybody with a heart not to feel for Augie Pullman as he not only survives a new school and new situation but thrives in them. He doesn’t just overcome his self-doubt; he proves to himself and everyone else that he’s not only his classmates’ equal but their superior. Augie surpasses every single other child character in this book with his compassion and intelligence. He is a hero of the 21st century. 

As cliché as it sounds, I couldn’t put it down. In between reading sessions (that I undertook with my daughter), I found myself obsessing about Augie’s plight and wondering what would happen to him next. I needed to know how the young boy with the messed-up face would respond and react to whatever challenges the world, his school, his town, his family, and his friend threw at him.… show more.

I’ve often whined about epic friend groups being featured in tons of films and not enough in books—but Strange Birds is the delightful exception that gets every detail of the cinematic friend group perfectly right. There’s mysterious invitations hidden in a library, scary treks through the woods, artistic activism in the face of wrong, and a wickedly cool group initiation featuring some mighty powerful crystals. If nothing else, the group’s shenanigans will make you want to go out and spend all your money on hoards of plastic flamingos. (Just trust me on this.)

I have a confession to make.

Reading was not one of my favorite activities growing up. That might sound strange from a children’s book author, but it’s true. Nowadays, I like all kinds of books.

This hilarious graphic novel, which is chock full of wacky illustrations, is definitely one of them. Where were graphic novels when I was a kid?

Big Nate (actually he’s not that big) is a funny, mischievous, lovable 11-year-old, who gets into all sorts of ridiculously tricky situations with friends, family members, and teachers that keep the action moving and reluctant readers of every age actively engaged.

For me, this picture book captures how childhood is both magical and terrifying.

For a younger brother, summer becomes a series of rules to navigate within a surreal landscape peopled only by unpredictable monsters and his big brother, who makes the rules. This imagined world, where stepping on a snail can conjure a tornado, feels strangely authentic and satisfying.

Each time I read this book, I’m fascinated again.

Pete’s whole life changes the summer the Preacher Man comes to town. Hearing the Man speak fills Pete with purpose. No one understands Pete like the Preacher Man — neither Pete’s parents, who no longer attend church, nor his best friend, who is an atheist — and Pete will do anything to hold fast to his devotion.

I read this short, deceptively simple book twice while working on Miraculous. It is an honest look at the longings and purpose so many of us search for, the power a persuasive individual can have, and the flaws that make us all human. I’ll never forget this book.

This YA novel is a page-turner about an unlikely friendship that sounds crazy but just works. Teenage Maggie is blind until the day she suddenly starts seeing Ben, a ten-year-old boy. Ben is the only person she can see and over time they develop a strong bond. I love this book because I’ve had friendships with people who are 5, 10, and 15 years older than me. I’m a firm believer that two people don’t necessarily have to be the same age to share a special connection and this book delivers on that idea.

Katherine Hannigan creates quirky characters that I love, so when I saw True (… Sort Of) in our apartment building’s book exchange box, I snatched it up. Delly Patterson is an unlikely hero. She starts the book as the town troublemaker, bold in a way that I never dared to be as a child. Reading this book was like catapulting myself into a wilder, more adventurous childhood of my own without getting into trouble myself. Delly eventually uses her boldness to stand up for someone with more bravery than many adults might have. (I’d also like to give a shout-out to Katherine Hannigan for including a nonbinary character at a time when hardly anyone else – in society, and especially in children’s books – acknowledged nonbinary people.)

This is a peculiar and marvelous book about birth families, adopted families, and “found” families, and how each of these can be equally screwed up.

Starting in Ireland in the 1940s, the story is peppered with sharp, clever dialog and vivid, fully-human characters. I love how the narrator struggles with his own heart for decades, unable to decide what he wants, who he loves, what’s right, what’s wrong, etc.—in other words, all the stuff I haven’t figured out yet myself. 

Coincidence also plays a huge role in this book, basically making an ass of everyone, which I find oddly comforting since it reminds me that part of being human is having very little control over my own life. Painfully funny and brilliant from cover to cover.