Frankie & Chair by Johan Ingler

Nine-year-old Danny has an unusual best friend: Chair, an armchair. Together, they write The Adventures of Captain Redtail & Sir Winchester, a comic about a squirrel space pirate and his faithful companion, a robot cupboard. Content with life as it is, Danny dislikes any sort of change. He’s already had to endure the hardest change of all: the loss of his father. But things take a turn when he starts at a new school and meets Frankie, a bold skateboarder whose friendship takes him by surprise. Frankie battles with a looming tragedy of her own, stirring emotions in Danny that he struggles to understand. And with Chair stubbornly opposing Frankie’s presence, the rising tensions set off a series of events that none of them could have imagined. It’s a rocky journey toward new friendship and an understanding of grief, all mirrored in Danny’s comic world—a place where he explores the emotions he’s still learning to process.

Middle Grade • Children’s Fiction