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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Best and Hardest Thing

The Best and Hardest Thing

1 rating: 4.0

A book by Pat Brisson

Grade 9 Up—Fifteen-year-old Molly Biden is finished with being the good girl. Armed with a new look, she targets the mysterious, hot new guy, Grady Dillon. Fearful that she might be outmaneuvered by an older girl in the scramble for his affections, … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Books, Teen Books, Coming Of Age Novels, Teenage Pregnancy

Author: Pat Brisson

Genre: Teens

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

1 review about The Best and Hardest Thing

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Emotional

May 13, 2010

by TheCompulsiveReader
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Rating:

Molly Biden is sick of being the perfect, dependable girl. She wants to be impulsive and outgoing and she wants to be noticed--especially by handsome and aloof Grady Dillon. So she devises a plan to nab his attention and re-create her image. But even as her plan seems to be working, Molly can't help but have a few doubts. And then Grady turns out to be far different than what she thought, and Molly is left alone and pregnant. Now she must gather her courage, figure out what she needs to do, and face her future.

The Best and Hardest Thing is a solid, quick-paced book told in verse. The poems are mainly free-verse, but there is a wide variation in the styles that Brisson employs. Molly is quite a dynamic character; in the beginning, she just wants to be someone more exciting and different, but she slowly loses control over her life changes when her best and only friend moves away, and she is left without a parent or friend to confide in. Brisson portrays the passing of months well, as Molly moves from shock to denial, and finally takes the momentous steps toward acceptance. Molly learns to become strong and independent, her experiences culminating in the best and hardest decision she'll ever make. And as Molly grows, so do the poems telling her story: the most beautiful ones are at the very end of the book. Though it was very short and didn't contain much character development outside of Molly herself, The Best and Hardest Thing is an emotional and lyrical book.

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