Review by Ian Keogh

Charise can’t remember how and when she first met Casey, but they’ve been best friends for four years despite Casey being two years older. Yet suddenly it’s all gone wrong.

We don’t learn why at first, just being shown a couple of pages of Casey blanking Charise amid plenty of others showing how much fun they’ve had in each other’s company, exploring, learning and playing. These are attractively drawn by Rory Lucey using cheerful people in nice suburban surroundings with bright colours heightening the good times before it’s revealed Casey is now at high school and has arbitrarily decided that she can no longer hang out with the younger Charise.

Despite no accompanying text confirming it, it can’t be a coincidence that author Charise Mericle Harper shares the same first name as her lead character, so the personal reality makes the experiences of a young girl all the more heartbreaking. Such is the general upbeat nature, though, that younger readers are protected from the full emotional pain. Charise gets on with her life despite the gaping void, and finds pleasure in solitary activities or occasionally with others, as every new chapter features a potential new best friend. These are self-contained as part of the bigger picture, and the subtle subtext is Charise learning that things she takes for granted and even some matters that annoy her are envied by others.

Charise is a confident child with many interests, yet should one take as a further subtext that she’s a little too picky when it comes to responding to people who want to be her friend? That’s eventually revealed to be the case, and the over-riding moral is that being more accepting pays off.

It’s pleasing that Wrong Friend doesn’t tie up all matters neatly, the abiding truth being real world reality rather than fictional reality, and that the messages aren’t hammered home. Lucey’s friendly art seals a worthwhile experience for a young audience.