The Kind Of Friends We Used To Be (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
The Kind of Friends We Used to Be by Frances O’Roark Dowell is about a two girls who used to be best friends until seventh grade when Marylin decided to be a cheerleader. Kate didn’t have anything against cheerleaders, but Marylin had always tried to change Kate. Marylin was the kind of girl who loved pink and cared a lot about fashion, as Kate just wants to play guitar and wear jeans, t-shirts, and her favorite black combat boots. Kate always wonders if theres another girl who likes playing guitar, but she doesn’t meet anyone, until she goes to a creative writing group and meets a guy named Matthew. Matthew loves to sing and play guitar, which is also Kate’s favorite thing. Marylin decides not to care what her cheerleader friends think and is friends with a girl named Rhetta. Rhetta wears black everything, but when Marylin has a sleepover with her she realizes that she isn’t what she looks like. It’s Christmas and Marylin and Rhetta’s families goes to a church to watch a performance which Marilyn is in. Matthew plays Christmas jingles at Kate’s house and Marylin and her brother join in without saying hello. In this story about friendship, two friends have been best friends all throughout school. This book has some unexpected curves to it which create suspense for the reader. Overall, this book was decent in my mind. This book reminded me of myself with some of my friends back in elementary school and how we used to act toward each other. This book was not as effective because it was not written for my age range. The characters in this book were younger and it seemed like the book was written for younger children. This book caused emotion because it was about friendship. Friendship in my mind creates more emotion than any other topic. At times, I would feel upset if the characters were upset just as I would if they were joyful. I could connect to the characters feelings because of personal experience. The author, even though she is older than the characters in this book, did a great job connecting to children around the ages of the characters. The way it was written makes it more effective because children can relate to what they are reading. Overall, this was a very cute story that I enjoyed reading. I would not recommend anyone around my age or older to read it because it is written for younger children. I gave it three out of five stars for that reason. Even though it was not my style of book, it was still an average book but I do not think I would read it again.
What do You think about The Kind Of Friends We Used To Be (2009)?
I abandoned this book. The last one was interesting, but this one is just drama.
—tammy
I liked how this author wrote about teenager girls and the ending.
—hirenjagad
