My Last Best Friend

If you want a good book, My Last Best Friend by Julie Bowe is what you should read. The main character is a girl is in fourth grade. Her name is Ida May. She likes to draw and wants to be an artist when she grows up.

Because Ida's best friend, Elizabeth, moved away and didn't write back, Ida is afraid to have another friend ever again. Not having one will be easy with mean, bossy Jenna Drews around. Then, Stacy Merriwether moves to town with her size extra large smile and Ida is afraid to smile back. Soon, Ida and Stacey are passing secret notes by hiding them in the hole in the wall of the school. Stacey doesn't know that Ida is writing the notes. Will Ida tell her "pen pal" who she is?

So Ida starts fourth grade without any friends. Her mother tries to set her up with the PTA president's daughter --- the snooty Jenna Drews, who tormented Ida and Elizabeth --- but Ida knows it will never work. How can you be friends with someone who calls you "I-duh"? But to please her parents, she agrees to go to the movies and a sleepover party with Jenna.

Both activities turn out just as Ida expects, with Jenna insulting and rejecting her. But there's one surprise --- a new girl named Stacey Merriweather who has just moved into town and happens to be in the same class as Ida and Jenna. Ida can't help but notice Stacey's huge, friendly smile and senses an instant connection with her. However, Ida fights these feelings with all of her strength; she must remember her vow of no more best friends. They just end up leaving.