Can best friends Aviva and Maddy survive the hardest year of their lives without each other? Twelve-year-olds Maddy Li-Quinn and Aviva Adelman were born on the same street and have been inseparable ever since. The two are innately connected through their love of the arts: Aviva is passionate about poetry and writing, and Maddy is a gifted violinist. However, over the course of a painful year, very different family struggles drive the two girls apart. Maddy encounters violence in the home, and Aviva’s baby brother faces a difficult diagnosis. To cope with the stress, Aviva's mother suggests she write a book about her friendship with Maddy. In an attempt to heal through the written word, Aviva becomes the funny, feisty protagonist of her own book. Reflecting back on the past year, Aviva realizes that she, too, has made many mistakes along the way. Last Year With Maddy draws on the author's personal experience with loss and recovery. Read the first two chapters! "[B]ittersweet ... In the tender novel Last Year with Maddy, best friends grow apart and find their way home again." ― Foreword Reviews " Last Year With Maddy  is a raw, honest and heartfelt book about the power of friendship and forgiveness. Aviva's voice is pitch-perfect as she comes to terms with what happened in the last year between her and her best friend, Maddy. Both girls navigate difficult moments in their lives, and neither are perfect in how they try to support one another. But it's in their imperfections that the reader recognizes their humanity, and their love for each other. This book is full of heart and hope."  ― Sidura Ludwig, award-winning author of  Swan: The Girl Who Grew "Rosner has produced a layered and nuanced narrative in  Last Year with Maddy  with the musicality of an orchestral symphony. Readers will experience piercing high notes and resonant lows, not just from Aviva’s story but from each character as they perform in sometimes sad, angry, joyful, but always hopeful concert."  ― Paul Coccia, award-winning author of  Recommended Reading "At the heart of  Last Year with Maddy  are words―words of humour, of anger, of discovery, of connection. A complex and moving story about friendship and sisterly love." ― Adam Sol, poet and author of  How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers of Poetry "[B]ittersweet ... At her mother's encouragement, Aviva writes down her account of the last year, alternating between the past and present. She recalls fond memories before snapping back to the reality of life without Maddy. The effect is haunting, adding intrigue about what really happened to Maddy ... The tone is somber, though Aviva's blunt assessments and witty retorts infuse humor into her heartache, as when she declares that a sixteenth-century poet simply "had no luck with boys." ... In the tender novel Last Year with Maddy , best friends grow apart and find their way home again." ― Foreword Reviews " Last Year With Maddy is a raw, honest and heartfelt book about the power of friendship and forgiveness. Aviva's voice is pitch-perfect as she comes to terms with what happened in the last year between her and her best friend, Maddy. Both girls navigate difficult moments in their lives, and neither are perfect in how they try to support one another. But it's in their imperfections that the reader recognizes their humanity, and their love for each other. This book is full of heart and hope." ― Sidura Ludwig, award-winning author of Swan: The Girl Who Grew "Rosner has produced a layered and nuanced narrative in Last Year with Maddy with the musicality of an orchestral symphony. Readers will experience piercing high notes and resonant lows, not just from Aviva’s story but from each character as they perform in sometimes sad, angry, joyful, but always hopeful concert." ― Paul Coccia, award-winning author of Recommended Reading "At the heart of Last Year with Maddy are words―words of humour, of anger, of discovery, of connection. A complex and moving story about friendship and sisterly love." ― Adam Sol, poet and author of How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers of Poetry Anna Rosner is the award-winning author of two hockey biographies for young readers published by Yellow Dog, as well as short fiction, scholarly articles and essays. She holds a PhD in French Literature from the University of Toronto. Anna's historical novel, Eyes on the Ice (Groundwood Books), is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and is short-listed for four awards, including the 2025 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction. Anna's fourth book, Last Year with Maddy, will be published in April 2026. Anna is the director of the Indigenous literary project Books with Wings, which provides personal letters and new books for children living on isolated reserves.