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Bittersweet
Drew Lamm Clarion Books 2003 |
Bittersweet by Drew Lamm is a book about Taylor Rose, a young artist.
She lives with her father and her grandmother, and her grandmother has always been her inspiration for her artwork. But when Taylor's grandmother becomes ill, Taylor is no longer able to create artwork the way she used to, and she has trouble dealing with all the changes in her life. Adding to the confusion is Mike, a boy she hates but suddenly finds herself hanging out with, and Bears, her next door neighbor and best friend. It is soon time for the art competition Taylor and her grandmother have been planning for their whole life, but without her grandmother by her side, Taylor doesn't know if she will be able to create any artwork to submit.
I thought this was a very good book, but also very predictable. I think that if Mike would have raped Taylor's best friend, that may have added to the storyline. (Although maybe he did, and I just missed it, because at times the characters were very confusing.) I thought that the book was also a little bit repetitive in that Taylor was constantly trying to create new art and then failing. Also you knew that her grandmother was going to die before it even happened. I did however enjoy the fact that at the end of the novel Taylor found her grandmother's journal. I felt this was an enjoyable and unexpected twist in the plot.
~Jennifer Pisansky, 9th grade, Springfield High School, Springfield, Ohio