Jenna Likes to Read

The Best and Hardest Thing by Pat Brisson

Posted on 24 February 2010

The Best and Hardest Thing by Pat Brisson

The story of a good girl gone bad
Fifteen-year-old Molly Biden has always been studious, dependable, some might even say saintly. And she’s sick of herself. So when she spots mysterious bad boy Grady Dillon, she devises a plan to make herself over into someone new, someone who will attract Grady’s attention. She succeeds—but a little too well. When Molly discovers she’s pregnant, she’s forced to make the hardest choice of her life. This addictively readable portrayal of Molly’s struggle to accept her pregnancy and the fact that her life will never be the same is told entirely in poetry, from sonnets to haiku.

Molly is a good girl – a smart honors student who is labeled “saintly” by her classmates.  She decides to rebel against this perception and ends up pregnant.  The book is written in a series of poems.  I really liked that the poems were all different.  (Brisson has a glossary of the different types of poems she used on her website, which was a really interesting read.)  I really liked Molly – it was interesting to see how she channeled the determination previously reserved for being good and getting good grades into getting Grady.  This book was a super fast read and while I liked it, I wouldn’t have minded the book being longer or going into more detail.