Best Friend Next Door

Printz Honor and New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Mackler makes her middle-grade debut.

Meet Hannah. Her name is a palindrome. Her birthday is on New Year's. Her mom died when she was little. She wishes she had a cat. She's medium height and a little gawky. She's being raised by her dad and stepmom, and just found out they're having a baby. Now she'll never get a real mom. And to top it off, Emme, the new neighbor, is taking over her best friend's bedroom . . . and her identity.

Meet Emme. Her name is a palindrome. Her birthday is on New Year's. She has two moms, which recently has been feeling like one mom too many. She's so short that last week she was mistaken for a kindergartner. She loves her enormous orange cat. She used to be an optimist (harder these days). At least there's Hannah. Maybe they'll become friends?

But while Hannah and Emme are alike in so many ways, they're different in all the wrong ways. Is this the perfect friendship, or a recipe for disaster?