BESTIES

Sixth grade buddies Trent and Sawyer bite off more than they can chew when they trick a clever and relentless classmate.

The boys become wrapped up in plotting pranks to submit to an internet contest run by pink-haired Trixie Sampson, a professional skateboarder with a web series called “Trixie’s Tricks.” They pick classmate Natasha as their next target, but the foolishness of that choice quickly becomes clear. Nat enlists their previous victims, even including their own family members, in a nonstop barrage of harmless but rousingly ingenious and messy counter-“prankening” at school and at home, which quickly leaves them exhausted, humiliated, and jumping at shadows. So perfectly does Turner capture their haunted expressions in her neatly drawn panels that even readers who are inspired to try a few slime- and glitter-filled hijinks for themselves may well feel sharp twinges of conscience. If not, at least the implicit cautionary note about the hazards of online influencers may be well taken. Better yet, in a final scene following their warring parties’ sincere expressions of regret and a mutual détente, Miller and Canino suggest that the best pranks end not in pain or upset, but in laughter—even from the victim. The cast, depicted in animated and sometimes-dramatic poses to reflect the lively dialogue, is diverse in skin tone.

Lessons to learn, friendships to mend, and “prankening” aplenty to chortle over.