This book is about two boys, Mike and Conrad, who are best friends! One day, a new boy. Victor shows up at school, and Conrad begins hanging out with him instead of Mike. Mike becomes upset, calling him the "worst best friend." When the boys play a game against each other on the playground, Victor doesn't choose Conrad for his team because Victor says he's not "big enough." Mike sees how upset Conrad is, and invites him on his team. The boys become best friends again! I would read this to a first or second grade class (6-7 years old). I found this book at North Star Elementary School's library.

Mike and Conrad are best, best friends. One day, a new student named Victor is introduced to the class. Soon everyone in the class is interested in becoming friends with Victor, especially Conrad. Mike starts to feel replaced when Victor starts doing all the things him and Conrad used to do. Mike decides Conrad is the worst best friend ever and goes up against Victor as kickball captain. While picking teams, Victor chooses all of the biggest kids and tells Conrad he doesn't want him on his team because he's not big enough to help them win. Realizing that the way Victor treated Conrad is wrong, Mike choose him to be on his team. Even though they end up losing, Conrad apologizes for being the worst best friend. Mike forgives him and they're back to being best, best friends again.

While reading the book, we see Mike develop feelings of anger, resentment, and even sadness over the fact that Conrad has a new best friend. The animosity is resolved when Mike sees how poorly Victor is treating Conrad and when he apologizes to Mike. Mike realizes that his friendship with Conrad isn't worth losing over someone like Victor. Victor's character also changes from the beginning to the end. In the beginning, his ego is inflated from everyone being so interested in him talking about himself. At the end of the story, we see in the illustrations that his classmates are realizing he's a bit of a bully and full of himself. ( )

I love this book as it is relatable in what it is like to no longer have the sole attention of a best friend. It also shows it at a school setting and does touch on feelings. It's longer than the other ones I've been reading but could be great in the classroom! ( )

I really liked this book because it exemplified a forgiving relationship between friends. Although Mike was not being treated as a best friend, he overlooked Conrad's behavior and treated him as his best friend. I liked how the author developed the characters. Conrad, Mike, and Victor all possessed real-life qualities and reactions which helped the readers to understand and empathize with each character. The sadness and anger that Mike felt was realistic and understandable. Any child that felt like he or she was being left out by his or her best friend would react in this same manner. Another well executed tool that the author used was the illustrations. The illustrations correlated perfectly with the story and truly helped readers to follow along with the story plot. One of the illustrations that I enjoyed the most was when the illustrator drew a bubble above Mike's head showing his thoughts and worries. In general, this book posed a hard question, "what do you do when your best friend isn't acting like one?" Some adults may suggest ignoring them or leaving it alone. This author in particular sets a clear message across. He exemplifies Mike someone who forgives, not just ignoring the problem. This author teaches a lesson on forgiveness and acceptance. ( )

I have read this book to the kids at my school a few times. It is great for showing how to treat your friends and how they feel when you do certain things.