Ava Lin, Best Friend!

This delightful chapter book introduces Ava Lin, a spirited first grader eager to find a best friend. Parents will appreciate how Ava's journey gently explores common social challenges like understanding friendship dynamics and navigating schoolyard rules. Her humorous missteps and resilient spirit make her an instantly relatable character for young readers. The story, enriched with graphic panels and black-and-white illustrations, draws on the author's Chinese American family experience, offering a fresh and inclusive perspective on a universal childhood experience. It's a perfect read for children transitioning into elementary school or those learning about the complexities of friendship.

Brand-new first grader Ava Lin is determined to find a best friend—even if she’s a bit unclear on how to go about it—in this launch of a funny, super relatable chapter-book series. Ava Lin is six and a half years old, and she loves bubble tea, finding treasures, and animals (note the 117 varieties of pets on her wish list). She’s very good at drawing and balancing pasta on her nose. And there’s a Very Exciting Thing happening in her life right now: tomorrow is her first day of first grade! Which means she gets a new backpack, new pencils, and a new lunch box. But what she really wants to get in first grade is a best friend, which isn’t as easy as she thought. Ava’s quest has her navigating some confusing social rules, with unintentionally comical results—but she always manages to wriggle out of her mishaps in ways young readers will find very familiar. With an engaging text, humorous graphic panels, and black-and-white illustrations, Vicky Fang draws on her Chinese American family’s experience to create a heroine kids will instantly love.