Together Forever

Making Friends #4

by Kristen Gudsnuk

Kristen Gudsnuk takes readers on a magical adventure about friendship in this fourth and final installment of her imaginative Making Friends series.

No magic. No sketchbook. No friends. Again?!



Dany's magical sketchbook has steered most of her middle-school life so far -- it even helped create her best friend, Madison. But now the sketchbook is gone and Madison with it. Then one day, Dany tunes in to hit TV show My Magical Best Friend, and it's starring HERmagical best friend, Madison! The show is clearly based on Dany's life, and she watches it regularly with a mix of horror and fascination. But lately there's something else about the show that's captured her Madison seems to be dropping hints for Dany to come rescue her. With no magical sketchbook at her fingertips, can Dany find a way to save her best friend?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Graphic Novels Comics, Comics, Magic, Young Adult

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 4, 2024

Reviews

[Soph · Rating 3 out of 5]

What the balls

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaking work of staggering genius...

Kristen definitively concludes the Making Friends series. Make sure you have a good window to sit by and stare longingly out of for a few hours after turning that final page. You'll have a lot to think about.

The humor is funnier than ever, notably the mountain of background signs and gags that are laugh out loud funny and more hysterical than anything in any comedy book, movie or TV show at the moment. The nuanced character drama is more sharply defined than ever. The artwork, notably the facial expressions and poses, are bursting with personality and charm. And even more satisfying, Kristen nails the landing. The ending of Making Friends 4, and Making Friends entirely, is incredibly complex and moving.

This series has been a wild ride, and it's wonderful to see a story end with such purpose, thoughtfulness, and heart.

[Gabrielle S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay I’m glad I stuck with it because I loved how it ended.

[Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

Representation: Black, Asian and Latino characters
Trigger warnings: N/A

Together Forever, part of the Making Friends series by Kristen Gudsnuk, needed improvements.

It starts with Dany, whose friend, Madison, disappeared in the opening pages. Madison is now on a TV show, My Magical Best Friend, with a Dany doppelganger, Daphne, and understandably, Dany wants Madison back.

The characters lack depth or development, but adding more could help. Together Forever is a disjointed and frustrating illustrated novel, as trying to read it feels like some pages are missing between transitions. Even prose and some other illustrated novels can handle transitions better.

Dany and Daphne's character designs are too similar and Gudsnuk should have distinguished them more. Additionally, there's too much dialogue and not enough images, slowing the creation down, but reducing dialogue lengths can help.

The art felt rushed as if Gudsnuk had a time limit to write and draw the narrative, despite the pleasing cover illustration. There is one full-colour palette, which lacks innovation, and the lines felt like Gudsnuk drew them in 10 minutes. Working on the art could improve the reading experience. Some worldbuilding parts were confusing and left unanswered questions, For example, how did Daphne steal Madison, and what about the magical notebook? Daphne could've done whatever she wanted, but she didn't.

Score: Four out of ten.

[Scarlett · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5★
I started the first before, but this was the only one available at the time, so I read it and did not like it. And probably would've hated the others since her mom was taken away from her and replaced by an alien. Only near the end of the book is her mom and sister everyone has forgotten about found in a tank with tunes and stuff on their faces. Not my kind of book.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well. I definitely did not plan on crying my eyes out upon finishing this series but here we are. Absolutely unhinged and borderline deranged to the very end. But also so smart and operating on so many different levels.

[Kate McCartney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice end to this series

[Evelyn Evenhouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series so much, this was a beautiful, poetic end to the story of Dany and her magical sketchbook! It's a lovely story with lots of deep moments but lighthearted ones too. This book tied up all the loose threads in the series(except with Tom, pls make a book 4.5 Kristen) I just love the series and characters in the book so much!

[Maggie W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is SOO good!! I almost cried!

[Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll just like, brain dump:

- Let me say this: I did not like Amara. Though she added some background story to the third book, I feel her character was okay.
- The transitions between scenes was a bit confusing, making me flip between pages thinking, "Did I like...skip a page or something?"
-I LOVE MADISON, SHE WILL ALWAYS BE MY FAV
- I felt the whole "friendship is magic" stuff was starting to get a bit watered down???

QUESTIONS THOUGH:
- what happened to Amara and Daphne after they created the magic pocket?
- WHY IS IT SO MANY YEARS LATER??? ALSO WHILE READING THE FIRST BOOK I THOUGHT DANI WAS AN 8TH GRaDER???

love this book series though. will always.

4/5

[Julia Sangkawatana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good ending to a good series! A bit sad at the end when madison goes into the dream portal forever but its nice dani still gets to see her somehow. Would have loved for her to stay in reality but i get she didnt fit in and longed to be in a place where she did

[Kennedy Fawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome! I cried when madison saw her family at the end. Wonderful series!

[Hal Schrieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

dude..... i love this silly, super-wordy, zany sci fi fantasy series for existential weeboo twelve year olds SO MUCH.

In the fourth installment, reality bends in some new ways. Dani IS really more confident in this book than previous ones, which is so satisfying to watch. However, her mother has been replaced with a moon alien, her best friend that she created in a sketchbook has been kidnapped and forced to work as a child star, and her bishonen villain crush (long discarded as romantic interest but rich as a source of unpredictable antagonism) is there too, along with a cloud princess named Amara. Our heroine's real life friends don't really believe her about the aliens, though she isn't cagy about sharing the different alternate timelines that led her to this point. They think she's doing a bit. So how will she resolve her problems, fix the universe, and get her mother back?

The answer is: first, befriend the moon alien and have some girl bonding time with her. Turns out she's not so bad. Then draw a shrink ray on the magic sketchbook scrap still in her possession. Once small, she can draw with far more detail on what is now a bedsheet-size piece of magic paper, thus designing a ship that looks like a housefly and has roller-rink carpet inside, with which she can rescue her friends from the Disney Channel-esque film studio alongside the alien-credulous nerd Tom from her school.

What isn't included in this summary of a wacky, fantastic plot with no rules is the very carefully crafted, utilitarian comics art, which manages to NEVER be confusing despite many changes in reality's operating rules-- and the often laugh-out-loud dialogue, which is full of jokes too complicated for many middle schoolers (frequent asides about Sartre are in this volume, and a core thread of the story is the freedom granted by existentialism) but also full of pretty simple silly gags that they will get, such as a seltzer brand called Cheltzer taking over the plot of a TV show.

Can I tell you exactly for sure which 11-13 year olds will love this book? No, not really-- it's totally genius in terms of reproducing tween creativity, and it takes the intelligence of its audience seriously in a way that I find so respectful of children, but at the same time, there is a certain level of small-font, too-much-dialogue here, and I do think that kids who would be otherwise deeply invested in this incredibly crafted story might lose the thread a little because it demands a lot of its reader. I privately think it should have been printed in much bigger format; my best experience was reading it huge on my desktop computer as an ebook.

[Wina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This graphic novel for ages 8-12 was so fun to read. It is a fantasy, with a magic in our normal world. The humor is sophisticated (read the signs and balloons and stuff!), poking fun at lots of aspects of life, but is also a tender book about feelings and friendship. Poster on her bedroom wall? "Stop buying stuff, you corporate stooge!" The message of being yourself and not caring so much about being popular is handled in such a great way! So funny, with lots of love and tears gushing, sad music playing, and even the acknowledgments are hilarious. Great ending.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m rating this book low because I thought this was the first in the series when it really was the 4th and possibly the last in the series. I did like that they recapped things that happened in the books prior for myself to have a full understanding of what was going on. I enjoyed it and found this book has a positive message for young readers. As a librarian I would recommend this series to my patrons.

[Wuhbet]

Nick was bullying a student, and the person who was bullying was mad. And now the person who got bullied was thanking the person who told off. The girl who told of had friends and told them drama saying " Basically I used it to make a magical best friend named Madison who tried to make me popular and I also brought prince Neptune to life..." And everyone was shocked and wanted to know more.


I think the friends might get Jealous of her for making a good plan and might sabotage and hurt her.

[D.T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always loved this series’ major crackhead energy!

This final book tries to tie up the loose ends, but it’s not a very tight knot. It's a little rushed but fun. The first one is still my absolute favorite.

There’s a lot of existentialism and more general philosophy here that will either make some kids' day or fly way over their heads.

3.5

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will be really popular at school. A good ending to the series, but it just got a bit fantastical for me at times. My class love the rest of this series. It’s gorgeously illustrated and full of brilliant friendships. A good meaty graphic novel to get your teeth into.

[Suketu Naik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was FIRE

I loved this book. The first time I read this series I didn’t get it, but now it is one of my favourites! I was kinda sad about the ending tho lol. I wish Madison could stick around.
-AK.

[Lani Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am I the only one who noticed that on page 179 in the magic doorway it says “give this book 5 stars on Amazon and Goodreads - even if you didn’t like it”? Coz I noticed it and found it hilarious so I’m doing precisely that.

[Amy Wang · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not as good as first 3 amazing books. Extremely disappointed, because many characters got forgotten at the ending and transitions in the comic were abysmal and I was constantly checking if I has missed a page.

[anni 🩰 · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The mysterys of the universe!”
“gIvE tHiS bOoK 5 sTaRs oN gOoDrEaDs”
yes, I happily will 😂
I honestly love this book cuz it feeds my magical girl delulu and I love it 💕 The characters are so funny and the art is cuteeee! I really hate how they took away all the magic and MADISONS GONEEE narrr it’s sad 😢. But I recommend it’s silly and I like it 😜

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a tad confusing as I haven't read the previous ones in a while, but over all I thoroughly enjoyed it. It made me burst out laughing more than once

[n ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book series ever I love it so much go read it

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

not as good as the first book.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was so hard to finish.

[Aaliyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning was boring got the concept by the end.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated how the series wrapped up but still not a fan of these books. Just not for me.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good ending even if my kid is disappointed there won't be any more books!