Book Review of The Friend Dilemma: Emma Just Medium Book 2
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The Children’s Book Review
The Friend Dilemma: Emma Just Medium Book 2
Written by Laura Wiltse Prior
Illustrated by Marta Kissi
Ages: 7-9 | 88 Pages
Publisher: One Elm Books (2025) | ISBN: 9781947159822
What to Expect: Friendship, change, compromise, and kindness.
Emma learns to cope with and adapt to change in this second book of the Emma Just Medium series.
Emma is super excited for the start of third grade – she hasn’t seen her best friends for a whole month, and she can’t wait for them to join in all her favorite activities – Lego, science experiments, and soccer – when they have their first play date. To her horror, however, the playdate is a disaster—her friends have new interests, and when Emma doesn’t want to play at ballet or babysitting, they decide to cut her out of the group.
Determined to salvage what she can of the year, Emma first tries forcing her interests on them and then tries forming a new friendship with someone else interested in the same things as her, but both plans go disastrously wrong. Her brother, Big, suggests she should learn to compromise—but she’s not taking advice from a boy who rarely brushes his teeth! Or … should she? Might Big have a point?
Emma is as vivacious and enthusiastic as ever, and readers will love seeing how she continues the lessons learned in Book 1 (like kindness for her baby brother Little) while learning new lessons about friendship and compromise. As well as being a story about change, it is also a story about being yourself; and Emma is a great role model for this, with relatable problems and a good heart. Throughout the story, black and white cartoon illustrations emphasize facial expressions and perspective, helping readers to think about the issues in the story from the point of view of different characters. Short chapters, simple vocabulary, and syntax make the book perfect for readers who are still new to chapter book reading.
The Friend Dilemma is a fun and instructive story about navigating the emotional challenges of middle-school friendship.
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About the Author
Laura Wiltse Prior is a middle grade author who loves cookie dough, reading and tennis. When she isn’t writing, she is driving her children around, hiking with Cody, her Portuguese Water Dog or hanging with Casper, the nicest cat in town. She lives and writes in Connecticut with her husband and three kids, the inspiration for her stories.
About the Illustrator
Marta Kissi is a London-based illustrator originally from Warsaw. She studied BA Illustration & Animation at Kingston University and MA Communication Art & Design at the Royal College of Art. Her favorite part of being an illustrator is bringing stories to life by designing charming characters and the wonderful worlds in which they live.
Dedicated Reviews allow authors and illustrators to gain prompt visibility for their work. This is a sponsored*, non-biased review of The Friend Dilemma: Emma Just Medium Book 2. Learn more about getting a book review …
