Between Friends

When Jill moves to a new neighborhood, she wants nothing more than to grow accustomed to her new surroundings, and make some friends. One day, when walking a neighbor's dog, she meets DeDe, a girl with downs-syndrome. At first, she is a little bit afraid of DeDe, and doesn't want anything to do with her. But after a while, she and DeDe become good friends. DeDe is friendly and caring, even though she isn't quite on Jill's level. Not long after their friendship develops, though, Jill gets to be good friends with the "cooler girls" in her neighborhood. They are quite sophisticated, and are fun to be around. But they refuse to be Jill's friends if they have to hang around DeDe. Now Jill has to choose between the fashionable, more shallow girls who are "prettier and more up-to-date on what's cool" and the girl who could possibly be the best friend she's ever had. This was a really good book. I've read it multiple times, and am starting to get an urge to read it again. The story is very entertaining and fun to read. It's an interesting book that I recommend to girls who love dramatic stories about pre-teen girls.