Emmie & Friends: Becoming Brianna: A Graphic Novel

Written by Terri Libenson

Narrated by Em Eldridge

Emmie & Friends: Becoming Brianna has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063003194

Terri Libenson

Terri Libenson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Emmie & Friends series and the cartoonist of the (now retired) award-winning comic strip The Pajama Diaries. Terri empty-nests in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband, Mike. She is the proud mom of two grown daughters and a poodle. You can find her online at terrilibenson.com.

Reviews for Emmie & Friends

[Jason Lathrop · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovin it!! Awesome,cool, drama filled, funny, silly,. Love it! Yes!

[Melissa Petersen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am not jewish myself, but it really gave me new look into another religion and I now understand what other people are going through in their rights of passage.

Loved the book, I actually love all Terri Libenson's books!?

It was absolutely and totally ? percent FIRE!!?

[jt1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Test testing is a test of what we have done for us

[Jana Gatley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well I don’t know should I say it’s not really my favorite book written by Terry Leabenson.....
( sorry if spelled wrong I’m Afrikaans
#South Africa)

[Reese Beyer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

AHHHHH! DELETE IT THIS BOOK IS SO STUPID!! UGH ???????????? THIS BOOK IS A. JOKE SHE IS SO UGLY OH AND STUPID

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Becoming Brianna is a notebook novel about her experiences with an upcoming Bat Mitzvah. This is not the first Brianna book but it can be read alone. The setting is the same school and includes characters from previous books. Brianna is now dealing with her parents divorce. In this newest instalment. After being badgered by her mother, Brianna has finally and reluctantly, given in to her mother's desire for her to have a significant bat mitzvah celebration. The family is not terribly religious (Brianna's father is not Jewish), and her parents can barely afford such a celebration. Unselfishly Brianna understands that this is very important to her mother and agrees even though she has a lot of anxiety about being the center of attention. So now and in a rather short time she has to learn learn to speak Hebrew, write a speech and deliver it to an audience in Hebrew! That’s enough to make the most outgoing person tremble. As many of us do with difficult things, she leaves the speech to the last minute.

She is also at odds with her best friend, Emmie, who is not only tired of hearing about the bat mitzvah, but also doubts that popular girl Zoe who has suddenly befriended Brianna has sincere motives. Zoe texts Brianna frequently, and makes an effort to talk to her and hang out, but the two don't really click, and Emmie feels that Zoe has heard rumors about the Bat Mitzvah party and just wants to be invited. Going back and forth in time from Brianna's preparations to the present day, we see her anxiety building as she deals with family, friends and her upcoming event. As I read Brianna’s predicament I began to feel anxiety.

I enjoyed Libenson's comical illustrations and the hand lettered text made the story quite personal.
I thought the parental drama was realistic and not over the top. When she impulsively invites her new friends to her party, I thought it a bit insensitive for mom to go off on how they can’t afford to feed four more people. But it was very interesting how Brianna negotiated with her mother to come up with the additional funds. This was a very mature thing for a teen to do.


The friend drama is a consistent to middle school interactions. and the desire to make friends. I don’t know if popular kids would really befriend the lesser just to attend a party, but I have only attended one Bat Mitzi and while it was very nice it wasn’t a Disney World event.

This left me with the desire to know more about Brianna as well as how her family fares in life.