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The Friendship Ring #4
What Are Friends For?
Olivia is baffled that her friends have turned into blithering idiots obsessing over boys, clothes, and who's in and who's out. But then it happens. She develops a crush on Lou Hochstetter. Even worse, Olivia's new friend Morgan thinks Lou is a total nerd. What are friends for, anyway?
160 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Vail
56 books457 followersBirth
I was born on July 25, 1966, in NEW YORK CITY, and grew up in New Rochelle, NY, with my mother, my father, and my younger brother Jon. (And down the street from my future husband, though of course I didn't know that until much later.)
Interests
Some details, I do know-I was very into reading and theater, so I read every book I could get my hands on (especially realistic fiction, either contemporary or historical) and took acting workshops and auditioned for every play in school, camp, or the community. I played Peter Pan, Miss Hannigan in Annie, Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, and lots of extremely memorable chorus parts-for instance, I was "girl number two" in Fiddler on the Roof-the one who said "We heard about your sister, Chava". I didn't care -I just wanted to be on stage. Waiting backstage before curtain call, after giving my all in a performance, was the best feeling I knew. In seventh grade I started taking magic lessons, and by eighth grade I was making all my own spending money by performing at kids' birthday parties as a clown named Tallulah. I liked the freedom of wearing all that grease-paint-I could be as wacky and un-cool as I wanted. I tried dance but felt so clumsy. I faked a sprained ankle to get out of the recital. I took voice lessons which made me a little light-headed (and I was afraid of the voice teacher's growling, drooling Doberman) and both saxophone and piano, neither of which I ever practiced. I did well in school but started a lot of my work at the last minute, in a crazy mad dash, so that it was never late but there were usually careless errors or areas I had to fudge. I had this idea that to work hard at something was sort of a negative, an admission that I didn't have natural talent. If I wasn't going to be Mozart and have the music (or dance, or math, or social studies term paper, or whatever) channeled through me from God, then I was just embarrassing myself by all that workmanlike effort. I didn't get over that idea until after college, by the way.
Career Ambitions
I never really planned to be a writer. I planned to be a financial wizard after learning about option-spreading at age 10, then a poet after discovering Shakespeare at 11. After overhearing "the real power is held by the lobbyists" on a class trip to Albany, I planned to become a lobbyist. Secretly, of course I always imagined myself as an actress, but that didn't seem hard or important enough, and also I worried I wasn't naturally gifted enough.
Parents
My parents were always great. I liked to make them proud, and they trusted me and supported my efforts and interests, which was sometimes weirdly tough. There was so little for me to rebel against.
As a Kid
When people ask me what I was as a kid, I always feel like my answer is at best incomplete.What are you like, as a kid? I'm still trying to figure out what I'm like as an adult.
Socially
Well, things went in waves. Sometimes I felt very "in", very aware of and tied in to the whole scene, excited by who liked whom, all the gossip, some of it less than kind. Other times I felt so alone-like there was nobody like me, nobody who liked me, nobody to talk to. And much of the time it was somewhere in between. A best friend when I was lucky, and a few people in each crowd I liked and who liked me. I resisted being classified as a brain or a jock or alternative or popular-too limiting. I would have to shut down too many parts of myself to be just one type.
Adolescence
I went through a very intense stage in middle school (Junior High). I worried about being too ordinary. I also worried about being too weird. I also worried about changing states of matter, my inability to be morally certain, ignorance (my own and world-wide), and making a fool of myself.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rachel...
I was born on July 25, 1966, in NEW YORK CITY, and grew up in New Rochelle, NY, with my mother, my father, and my younger brother Jon. (And down the street from my future husband, though of course I didn't know that until much later.)
Interests
Some details, I do know-I was very into reading and theater, so I read every book I could get my hands on (especially realistic fiction, either contemporary or historical) and took acting workshops and auditioned for every play in school, camp, or the community. I played Peter Pan, Miss Hannigan in Annie, Benny Southstreet in Guys and Dolls, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, and lots of extremely memorable chorus parts-for instance, I was "girl number two" in Fiddler on the Roof-the one who said "We heard about your sister, Chava". I didn't care -I just wanted to be on stage. Waiting backstage before curtain call, after giving my all in a performance, was the best feeling I knew. In seventh grade I started taking magic lessons, and by eighth grade I was making all my own spending money by performing at kids' birthday parties as a clown named Tallulah. I liked the freedom of wearing all that grease-paint-I could be as wacky and un-cool as I wanted. I tried dance but felt so clumsy. I faked a sprained ankle to get out of the recital. I took voice lessons which made me a little light-headed (and I was afraid of the voice teacher's growling, drooling Doberman) and both saxophone and piano, neither of which I ever practiced. I did well in school but started a lot of my work at the last minute, in a crazy mad dash, so that it was never late but there were usually careless errors or areas I had to fudge. I had this idea that to work hard at something was sort of a negative, an admission that I didn't have natural talent. If I wasn't going to be Mozart and have the music (or dance, or math, or social studies term paper, or whatever) channeled through me from God, then I was just embarrassing myself by all that workmanlike effort. I didn't get over that idea until after college, by the way.
Career Ambitions
I never really planned to be a writer. I planned to be a financial wizard after learning about option-spreading at age 10, then a poet after discovering Shakespeare at 11. After overhearing "the real power is held by the lobbyists" on a class trip to Albany, I planned to become a lobbyist. Secretly, of course I always imagined myself as an actress, but that didn't seem hard or important enough, and also I worried I wasn't naturally gifted enough.
Parents
My parents were always great. I liked to make them proud, and they trusted me and supported my efforts and interests, which was sometimes weirdly tough. There was so little for me to rebel against.
As a Kid
When people ask me what I was as a kid, I always feel like my answer is at best incomplete.What are you like, as a kid? I'm still trying to figure out what I'm like as an adult.
Socially
Well, things went in waves. Sometimes I felt very "in", very aware of and tied in to the whole scene, excited by who liked whom, all the gossip, some of it less than kind. Other times I felt so alone-like there was nobody like me, nobody who liked me, nobody to talk to. And much of the time it was somewhere in between. A best friend when I was lucky, and a few people in each crowd I liked and who liked me. I resisted being classified as a brain or a jock or alternative or popular-too limiting. I would have to shut down too many parts of myself to be just one type.
Adolescence
I went through a very intense stage in middle school (Junior High). I worried about being too ordinary. I also worried about being too weird. I also worried about changing states of matter, my inability to be morally certain, ignorance (my own and world-wide), and making a fool of myself.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/rachel...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 2, 2023
This is book 4 in The Friendship Ring series by Rachel Vail. This is Olivia's book. Olivia Pogostin is in Zoe, CJ, and Morgan's clique, although she's always felt like the odd one out.
This book is part of a series but like the rest of them can be read as a standalone. All the books take place more or less during the same time but each is told from a different girl's pov, so it isn't totally necessary to read the ones before this to understand the story but highly recommended.
We get to see from the school project "Bring Yourself in a Sack" to when the girl's got their friendship rings together (not just CJ and Zoe but Morgan and Olivia).
Olivia has never liked gossip or has been interested in boys. She doesn't care about being popular or who sits with her during lunch or on the bus. She enjoys being alone, until she doesn't. During the school project, she starts seeing Louis Hochstetter, aka Lou, under a different light for the first time. He's the boy who is obsessed with WWII armaments. She gets a crush on him! He's a geeky guy. When Olivia tries to tell Morgan. Morgan thinks she is joking and doesn't believe her, but Olivia doesn't have the heart to correct her. Lou was a total sweetheart and I like that he was true to himself.
Olivia asks Lou out, and although Lou likes her back his parents don't allow him to date until he's 16. At first, Olivia thinks that's just an excuse not to go out with her but it turns out Lou is telling the truth. They decide to stay friends for the time being although they confess they like each other. I hope they can be together in the future!
I was so mad at CJ for trying to set up Zoe with Lou. I mean she had no idea Lou and Olivia liked each other but still. I felt so bad for Olivia, and Zoe too. Zoe was mortified, she doesn't like Lou. Morgan was so wrong lying about Tommy but Morgan lies a lot, nothing new.
I think Morgan is a fool and she was very mean to Olivia in this book. Olivia was always there for Morgan but Morgan was only using Olivia due to CJ dumping her as best friend for Zoe. After a nasty fight due to Morgan being unreasonable. Again it's Olivia taking the first step to mend things, this isn't surprising given Olivia is more mature than Morgan. After reading Morgan's book (book 3) I understand her actions better, she has a bad family life and is hurting a lot. She has abandonment issues and has trouble handling rejection. Still, I had to remind myself that every time she was being unreasonable and mean.
I'm glad things ended well for Olivia and Morgan, it seems they are on the path to truly become best friends despite their different personalities. Olivia can learn to be a bit more daring from Morgan, and Morgan can learn to be more cautious and mature from Olivia.
I'm actually mad at Scholastic. They repackaged the books and released the digital editions, a lifesaver since these books were out-of-print for a while and hard to find. But why on earth did they only do it up to book 4? There aren't digital editions for books 5 and 6. I'm so mad right now. Books 5 and 6 have been out of print for sooo many years now and are hard to find. I'm going to have to hunt them down at my local library if they even have them there... might have to go to other libraries too. I wanted to finish this series so badly. 😭
This book is part of a series but like the rest of them can be read as a standalone. All the books take place more or less during the same time but each is told from a different girl's pov, so it isn't totally necessary to read the ones before this to understand the story but highly recommended.
We get to see from the school project "Bring Yourself in a Sack" to when the girl's got their friendship rings together (not just CJ and Zoe but Morgan and Olivia).
Olivia has never liked gossip or has been interested in boys. She doesn't care about being popular or who sits with her during lunch or on the bus. She enjoys being alone, until she doesn't. During the school project, she starts seeing Louis Hochstetter, aka Lou, under a different light for the first time. He's the boy who is obsessed with WWII armaments. She gets a crush on him! He's a geeky guy. When Olivia tries to tell Morgan. Morgan thinks she is joking and doesn't believe her, but Olivia doesn't have the heart to correct her. Lou was a total sweetheart and I like that he was true to himself.
Olivia asks Lou out, and although Lou likes her back his parents don't allow him to date until he's 16. At first, Olivia thinks that's just an excuse not to go out with her but it turns out Lou is telling the truth. They decide to stay friends for the time being although they confess they like each other. I hope they can be together in the future!
I was so mad at CJ for trying to set up Zoe with Lou. I mean she had no idea Lou and Olivia liked each other but still. I felt so bad for Olivia, and Zoe too. Zoe was mortified, she doesn't like Lou. Morgan was so wrong lying about Tommy but Morgan lies a lot, nothing new.
I think Morgan is a fool and she was very mean to Olivia in this book. Olivia was always there for Morgan but Morgan was only using Olivia due to CJ dumping her as best friend for Zoe. After a nasty fight due to Morgan being unreasonable. Again it's Olivia taking the first step to mend things, this isn't surprising given Olivia is more mature than Morgan. After reading Morgan's book (book 3) I understand her actions better, she has a bad family life and is hurting a lot. She has abandonment issues and has trouble handling rejection. Still, I had to remind myself that every time she was being unreasonable and mean.
I'm glad things ended well for Olivia and Morgan, it seems they are on the path to truly become best friends despite their different personalities. Olivia can learn to be a bit more daring from Morgan, and Morgan can learn to be more cautious and mature from Olivia.
I'm actually mad at Scholastic. They repackaged the books and released the digital editions, a lifesaver since these books were out-of-print for a while and hard to find. But why on earth did they only do it up to book 4? There aren't digital editions for books 5 and 6. I'm so mad right now. Books 5 and 6 have been out of print for sooo many years now and are hard to find. I'm going to have to hunt them down at my local library if they even have them there... might have to go to other libraries too. I wanted to finish this series so badly. 😭
May 28, 2022
Oh my god. Olivia was so annoying, overdramatic and stuck up. She literally got mad over the tiniest things such as the topic of race. Being a person of colour myself I don’t get why the topic is so touchy. Like, there are people of different backgrounds and that’s that. Get over it.
The author tried waaaay too hard to make her family seem ‘perfect’ by giving them social causes they apparently cared about (though she never actually showed us this) and having parents who ‘respect their privacy’ which means not actually parenting at all. It’s ridiculous. Having rules and being strict does not equate to bad parenting, in fact, I’d even argue it’s the opposite. The only reason I kept reading was for Lou. That adorable geeky little kid captured my heart in an instant! Too bad it’s reserved for Olivia. Bleugh.
The author tried waaaay too hard to make her family seem ‘perfect’ by giving them social causes they apparently cared about (though she never actually showed us this) and having parents who ‘respect their privacy’ which means not actually parenting at all. It’s ridiculous. Having rules and being strict does not equate to bad parenting, in fact, I’d even argue it’s the opposite. The only reason I kept reading was for Lou. That adorable geeky little kid captured my heart in an instant! Too bad it’s reserved for Olivia. Bleugh.
August 24, 2021
It was a book series that I enjoyed much when I was in my early teens.
November 9, 2022
1.5/5⭐
Recuerdo a verla leído en la secundaria y me pareció enfadosa la trama. Además que el final no me convenció del todo.
Recuerdo a verla leído en la secundaria y me pareció enfadosa la trama. Además que el final no me convenció del todo.
September 17, 2007
This book helped me with my friendship.I think that it could help you with yours!The book is about a girl that likes a guy but her friend decides that she wants him for herself.So she betrays her friend for this guy that doesnt like her.He likes her friend.They`re friendship was ruined over a guy......Thats all im gonna say you have to read the rest to find out what happens after that......
August 15, 2007
This book is about howa girl named Olivia at first doesnt feel for boys or nothing.But,then she developes feelings for this boy in her class.Her friends think he`s a dork but she thinks other wise so she ask what are friends for anyway?
February 18, 2010
After reading this book, Olivia definitely earned her spot as my favorite character in this series. There are some great passages about liking geek boys.
May 18, 2010
The best among all Friendship Ring
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews