Best Friends Through Eternity. Sylvia McNicoll. Toronto, ON: Tundra Books, 2015. 182 pp, hardcover & ebook, $19.99 (hc.). ISBN 978-1-77049-710-8 (hc.), ISBN 978-1-77049-712-2 (ebook). Grades 7 and up / Ages 12 and up. Review by Janet Beauchamp. **** /4

excerpt:

"Isn't there some way I can go back and fix this?" [Paige]

"Press 'Edit, Undo'?" she asks. [Kim]

I smile and nod. "Like we did when we made the comic strips on the computer?"

"Maybe," she says brightly. "I don't think you can stop from dying if that's your destiny, but I know some people have gone back a few days and changed some bits. I'd have to ask the older dead people."

"Could you? Tell them I need to help Jasmine. Then I'll be fine with all this." [...]

"They like that you want to stand by your friend. So you get to go back. But only for seven days."

Sylvia McNicoll's novel Best Friends Through Eternity was an enjoyable read. As a high school teacher, I could connect with the characters and the drama which they were experiencing. Their experiences are quite reflective of what is actually occurring on a daily basis in high schools across the country: girls fighting over boys, girls hiding boys from their parents and friends having each other's backs. The afterlife elements of the story were believable and help readers truly understand the protagonist, Paige. The journey readers are taken on between the two dimensions is seamless and engages readers. These elements make this novel unique and separate it from the common content of the young adult choices available today. There were two things which I personally did not like though they do not detract from the great success of this story. I do not think that the title is very fitting as Paige's best friend does not seem to be Kim nor does she spend much time with her in the novel. Once readers meet Kim in "heaven", the title led me to believe that more time would be spent "on the beach". This did not happen. I think that Jasmine is Paige's best friend and that Kim was, and is, a friend of circumstance... with a twist. I also did not like the reference to "Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny" (p. 13) because some young adults do still choose to believe. Nevertheless, these are small issues, and I would definitely recommend this book. A great, quick read which I missed when I was away.

Highly Recommended.

Janet Beauchamp, a high school teacher, teacher librarian and the mother of three girls, lives in L'Amable, ON.

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