What to Read If You Loved "Booksmart"
We’re still obsessing over Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut Booksmart. The comedy features brainy best friends Molly and Amy, who decide to spend their last night of high school partying with their peers after years of focusing on studying and only hanging out with each other (which doesn’t sound so bad, TBH). Hijinks ensue as they try to get to popular guy Nick’s party, and Molly and Amy’s best friendship is put to the test once they finally arrive. Spoiler alert: it survives.
If you’ve already seen the movie and loved it as much as we did, it’s time to head to the bookstore and check out some of the awesome books below—all of which feature a BFF relationship as layered, fun, and genuine as Molly and Amy’s in Booksmart.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Besties Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget are the focus of this classic by Ann Brashares, and even though the four girls spend most of their summer apart, their deep connection and friendship still shines through—thanks, in no small part, to a pair of secondhand jeans that fits each one of them perfectly. This book proves it: denim is thicker than blood.
Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro & Emily Henry
Co-written by IRL friends Brittany Cavallaro and Emily Henry, Hello Girls is like a YA Thelma & Louise for 2019. The epic runaway road trip that best friends Winona and Lucille embark on in this book is what would happen if Molly and Amy from Booksmart a) were determined to escape their crappy home lives, rather than determined to get to a party, and b) weren’t quite as afraid to break the rules a little bit—well, OK, a lot.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Take a trip back in time with this next pick, a story that’s about spying for the Allies during WW2, but also about a deep best friendship forged during wartime. The story is split into two parts: one is written by secret agent “Verity” after she’s arrested by the Gestapo; the other, told by her pilot best friend Maddie, details how the girls came to be friends and how they ended up in their current situations. This one is a mind-bender with a friendship at its center that’s well worth the heartbreaking conclusion.
Mariam Sharma Hits the Road by Sheba Karim
This book features three best friends instead of two, but that just means there’s more friendship to go around. The story features best friends Mariam, Umar, and Ghaz on a cross-country road trip through the American South. It’s at once serious—each friend is either running away from something at home, searching for something on the road, or a bit of both—fun, and funny.
Cherry by Lindsey Rosin
Best friends on a mission to accomplish something personal before the self-imposed deadline of high school graduation? Check! In Cherry’s case, the four best friends at the heart of the novel make a pact to have sex by high school graduation, and as you can imagine, things get...interesting. But even when things don’t go according to plan, the girls have each other.
Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
The best friend devotion in this novel is strong. So strong that Mila Flores, convinced that her late best friend Riley was murdered, brings Riley—and two popular girls who died around the same time—back to life with a Wiccan spell to get to the bottom of their deaths. Now that’s friendship. Lily Anderson infuses Mila’s voice with a sharp wit that adds levity to the heavy subject, and the story also tackles the always timely topics of mean girls and bullying.
Fireworks by Katie Cotugno
Set during the height of the boy band/girl group craze of the 1990s, Fireworks follows best friends Olivia and Dana as they travel to Florida to be part of a brand new pop band. There’s no shortage of tension between the girls, especially since pop stardom has always been Olivia’s No. 1 dream, not Dana’s. Cue the drama! Katie Cotugno deftly shows the strain that competition and growing apart can put on a friendship, even when you’ve been best friends forever.
Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
One half of the best friend duo in this Morgan Matson novel is, well, gone for the entirety of the story—but that doesn’t mean Sloane’s presence isn’t felt, especially to her left-behind BFF Emily. When Emily receives a summer to-do list from Sloane that’s full of things that are totally outside Emily’s comfort zone, she thinks that completing them might just reunite her with her best friend. Is she right? You’ll have to read to find out.
I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn & Allison Raskin
What have we here? Another book co-written by IRL besties! In this digital epistolary/mixed media novel, best friends Ava and Gen adjust to starting college on opposite coasts, keeping in touch via text and email as they jump into their respective freshman years. Starting college and being separated from your best friend isn’t always easy, but the BFF banter in this book is often hilarious and feels super realistic.
Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia
This pick is a bit of an outlier, in that it doesn’t spotlight a BFF friendship, really. But the main character Reshma feels like Molly-from-Booksmart’s slightly more extreme sister in a way since they’re both high achievers who are devoted to succeeding in school and going to a top college. Reshma is so determined to set herself apart from all other Stanford applicants that she decides to write a YA novel and get a book deal. But first, she has to make her life interesting enough to write a YA novel about, by making a friend, securing a boyfriend, etc. Also? The novel she writes is the text of Enter Title Here. So meta.
