Book Review: Best Friends for Never

Title: Best Friends for Never

Author: Lisi Harrison

Publisher; Little Brown

Date: 2004

ISBN: 978-0-316-70131-0

Length: 197 pages

Quote: “I bet you couldn’t go an entire month without wearing the same outfit twice.”

Claire Lyons still wants to be in Massie Block’s clique, the “Pretty Committee,” though she doesn’t actually like Massie—who could? She takes Massie’s bet because it’s obviously by way of an initiation challenge. Luckily for Claire her flabby, frazzled parents don’t mind buying enough clothes for a growing child to have 22 completely different outfits.

At this point the adult reader may want to shake all four of the parents involved. “Hello? Why are you letting the side down? Not only the tastes but also the sizes and shapes of teenagers change so fast that, if they have 22 outfits, they may not wear each outfit twice before they’ve outgrown it. The important thing about dressing teenagers is not allowing them to form silly phobias about secondhand clothes. They can be fashion victims when they’re earning their own money.”

But Harrison lets the girls roll on. Alicia’s always threatening Massie’s dominance of the clique. To maintain her position Massie announces the first “boy/girl” party for her schoolmates in grade seven. The parents let her do this provided that (a) Massie and Claire host the party together, and (b) they invite the whole grade.

At this point the adult reader may want to shake Claire’s and Massie’s parents even harder. “You want the whole seventh grades from two schools in your house at one time? What were you drinking? Boy/girl parties for teenagers need about one chaperone per two teenagers, because it’s the adorably innocent half-grown ones who are likely to get into serious trouble, so if all four of you can attend this party your daughters can invite two more couples. Parties for the whole school should be given on the school’s grounds and responsibility.”

The Pretty Committee decide to dress up for their costume party as Dirty Devils in grungy shirts and micro-miniskirts. Going to school in their costumes, they provoke the teachers to consider imposing a school uniform on the O.C.D.S. girls. The girls demand the right to design their own uniforms, with the winners being chosen by vote, and the resulting fashion design contest leads to, in the next book, the Pretty Committee going to New York as Teen Vogue models, which leads to Claire, the blonde, being offered a role in a movie…stay tuned. At least, if you enjoy this book, you’ll want to stay tuned. If you find the satire more savage than amusing, dislike the Pretty Committee, and want to tip the parents right out of their trendy Adirondack chairs, you might prefer to look for a more wholesome teen novel—the Baby-Sitters Club are actually older than the Pretty Committee, believe it or not.

Blessed is the teenager whose parents recognize the behavior of the Pretty Committee as the sort of thing that happens when teenagers aren't being given responsibilities and taught marketable job skills. Most schools seem to have cliques of horrible children whose large allowances and lack of responsibilities do leave them "free" to think about little else besides competitive displays of extravagance. If Claire and Massie had to come straight home from school to tend their vegetable gardens before being allowed to work through a long list of enriching projects at their own pace, they would be healthier, happier, and nicer children.