Making Friends: Third Time's a Charm: A Graphic Novel (Making Friends #3) (3)
Making Friends: Third Time's a Charm: A Graphic Novel (Making Friends #3) (3) book cover

Making Friends: Third Time's a Charm: A Graphic Novel (Making Friends #3) (3)

Paperback – August 3, 2021

Price
$11.49
Format
Paperback
Pages
208
Publisher
Graphix
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1338630794
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.75 x 8 inches
Weight
13.6 ounces

Description

Praise for Making Friends : ★ " Making Friends is the Scott Pilgrim for the tweenage set, perfect for any younger readers' graphic novel collection." -- School Library Journal , starred review "Gudsnuk's powers of imagination will make her plenty of friends." -- Publishers Weekly "This charming graphic novel features full-color, manga-inspired illustrations and a breezy plot that blends wish fulfillment and fantasy with an approachable and contemporary storyline. With a broad brush, Gudsnuk hits many of the angst-y issues of middle school, including popularity, bullying, family relationships, body image, and fandom, creating appeal for a large swath of readers... A nifty pastiche of middle school matters." -- Kirkus Reviews "Middle-schoolers, meanwhile, will appreciate Gudsnuk's light touch in bringing an empathetic, joyful, and judicious treatment to those tough in-between years." -- Booklist Praise for Making Friends: Back to the Drawing Board : "Gudsnuk's bubbly, playful artwork, in a warm palette dominated by pink and purple and dense with detail and expressive, goggle-eyed faces, is a pleasure to look at." -- Booklist Praise for Making Friends : * " Making Friends is the Scott Pilgrim for the tweenage set, perfect for any younger readers' graphic novel collection." -- School Library Journal , starred review"Gudsnuk's powers of imagination will make her plenty of friends." -- Publishers Weekly "This charming graphic novel features full-color, manga-inspired illustrations and a breezy plot that blends wish fulfillment and fantasy with an approachable and contemporary storyline. With a broad brush, Gudsnuk hits many of the angst-y issues of middle school, including popularity, bullying, family relationships, body image, and fandom, creating appeal for a large swath of readers... A nifty pastiche of middle school matters." -- Kirkus Reviews "Middle-schoolers, meanwhile, will appreciate Gudsnuk's light touch in bringing an empathetic, joyful, and judicious treatment to those tough in-between years." -- Booklist Praise for Making Friends: Back to the Drawing Board : "Gudsnuk's bubbly, playful artwork, in a warm palette dominated by pink and purple and dense with detail and expressive, goggle-eyed faces, is a pleasure to look at." -- Booklist Kristen Gudsnuk is the creator of Making Friends , an IndieBound bestseller and YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens selection. The sequel, Making Friends: Back to the Drawing Board , was included in the 2020 ILA Children's Choices reading list. She's also the writer and artist of the Minecraft comic series Wither Without You, and her Henchgirl comic series is being developed into a TV show. Kristen was born in suburbia, didn't go to art school, and now lives in Queens, New York. Learn more about Kristen and her comics at kristengudsnuk.com.

Features & Highlights

  • Dany's sketchbook is at it again, but this time it's not Dany's doing!
  • Dany and Madison are living a new reality. Rather than best friends, the pair now believe they are twins -- and that isn't the only part of their lives that has been completely rewritten. Their mom is a novelist, their dad is a rock star, and Dany has suddenly become a diligent student.
  • Things. Aren't. Adding. Up.
  • Dany and Madison start sleuthing and discover that someone has drastically altered the universe! Can the pair put things back the way they were, or is this magic beyond their control?

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(247)
★★★★
25%
(103)
★★★
15%
(62)
★★
7%
(29)
-7%
(-29)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Confrontational, surprisingly dark, incredibly fun

Possibly the best entry in the series yet, Kristen pushes Making Friends into bold, new directions. Not fully satisfied at it being a humorous, pleasant and fanciful middle grade exploration of awkwardness, foolishness and loneliness, Making Friends (3): Third Time's A Charm starts to unravel the world around Dany and Madison, pulling back the curtain at the way the world really works, revealing them (and in a sense, us all) as minor characters ignorant of a much larger game we're unwittingly playing. Surely the Goodreads reviewers who wanted more back story on the mysterious magical elements at play will be more than satisfied at where the story goes (is going?)

It's a risky move, and the book is full of risks, whether it's the incalculable amount of unbelievably absurd background gags, almost unforgivable character flaws revealing themselves, or an ending so distressing that it just may ruin some poor child's summer. The final lines of dialogue will chill readers of all ages, they haunted me for hours after reading. Making Friends 3 is complex, cleverly meta (both defiantly and self-critically), and still never sacrifices the crucial consistent ingredient: how do you make people like you when you can barely convince yourself you like you?

On the visual level, Gudsnuk's color palette is as eye-pleasing as ever, and her mastery of ultra-specific (and laugh out loud funny) facial expressions and character acting is fairly unmatched in this genre. The book often feels wildly animated even though they are still drawings. Even an early panel of Dany asleep is full of life and movement, her mouth cartoonishly open (snoring?) and her eyes scrunched in an angry, troubled expression. Kristen seems to be unable to draw a page without the goal of making herself laugh, or surprised.

In short, everything gels. Book 1 was Kristen exploring a new genre for herself, possibly attempting to fit into the Scholastic mold. Book 2 was the hyperactive farce where all the toys are played with and left a mess on the floor, and Book 3 is now the sophisticated, complicated, dark underbelly of it all. What will be in store for Book 4?

(from my Goodreads review)
6 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Best book in the series

The plot definitely thickens in this third book of the series. I don't want to spoil anything, but the direction the story goes in is intense and I can't wait til the 4th one is out!
5 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Will break your heart

I would like to make this 0 stars but I respect the author too much and her writing is very good. The book was great and entertaining but I'm telling you right now, if you buy it your heart will be crushed and stomped on and your will to live will be gone. You'd be better off reading the first 2 books and not knowing what happens in the third one honestly.
5 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

A fine book!!!

A fine book!!!
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Read with some supervision

This is a fun series to get kids reading.. I would suggest reading the first book with your child or student. It deals with peer pressure, popularity, crushes. It offers a great way to talk to your kids about these topics
1 people found this helpful