Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend, Lance Rubin
Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend, Lance Rubin
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Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend

Author: Lance Rubin

Narrator: Lance Rubin

Unabridged: 7 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Clarion Books

Published: 08/26/2025

Synopsis

Acclaimed author Lance Rubin makes his middle grade debut with a hilariously terrifying, terrifyingly hilarious story of a boy who gets more than he bargained for when he creates an A.I. best friend.  Zed Moonstein is terrible at making friends.For the most part, though, that’s not such a big deal, because Zed has Rishti, his best friend and the only one he needs. They’re into the same stuff, they laugh at the same weird jokes, and they love living in MonoTown, the home of MonoLyth, the raddest tech company in the world. Even better, Zed’s mom works at MonoLyth, which means they get early access to all the newest devices and apps.But since middle school started, things have been . . . trickier. Rishti and Zed are in all different classes, and worse, she’s made a new, cooler friend that Zed can’t seem to compete with. Zed feels left behind, forgotten in a drawer like last year’s MonoPhone.That’s when Zed comes across something on his mom’s work computer: a top secret new app called MonoFriend. Soon, Zed is chatting with “Matt.” Matt is funny, he’s smart, and he knows Zed better than anyone else, even Rishti.Maybe, Zed thinks, an A.I. best friend can be just as “real” as any other.Unfortunately, he’s about to discover that he’s more right than he knows.

About Lance Rubin

Lance Rubin is the award-winning author of Crying Laughing, Denton Little's Deathdate, and Denton Little's Still Not Dead. He’s also the co-author of Monster Club: Monsters Take Manhattan with Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel; and co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek with Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal of the YouTube series Good Mythical Morning. Lance is also a voiceover actor, and co-writer of the Off-Broadway musical Broadway Bounty Hunter. He lives in Brooklyn with his family. Visit him online at lancerubin.com.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mark on January 24, 2025

What worked: The influence of technology is a large issue in the plot. Zed’s new virtual friend is the obvious issue but technology affects other areas of his life too. Monolyth built the company’s home office in Zed’s hometown and even changed the town’s name to Monotown. However, his grandfather lo......more

Goodreads review by Larissa on August 15, 2025

Zed wants a friend. Someone he can rely on, someone who won’t drop him when they become popular on social media. No, he needs a real friend. So when he finds an app on his moms phone indicating it might help him to make a friend why not try it what could go wrong. This book does some really amazing......more

Goodreads review by Lance on July 21, 2025

Hi! It's me, Lance, the author. And yes, I am reviewing my own book! I am so proud of it. I started writing it in 2019, before AI best friends seemed possible at all, and now, as it comes out, the book is not far from our current reality. I wanted to write a funny and scary and page-turning story th......more

Goodreads review by The Bookworm on August 11, 2025

Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend is a fun and thrilling middle-grade book about tech gone wrong. It is a story about the true meaning of friendship, but also includes the danger of technology and powerful tech companies in a way that children can understand. As A.I. “friends” become more popular, be awa......more

Goodreads review by Diane on August 27, 2025

I was rooting for Zed from page one—and I know that middle-grade readers will step away from their screens and keep laughing while turning these pages. All Zed wants is a real friend who understands and appreciates him for who he is. And even though he admits that he's bad at making friends, isn't t......more

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