Bittersweet Sixteen

Bittersweet Sixteen by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman Friendship/Money HarperCollins, 2006, 230 pp., $15.99 ISBN: 0-06-077844-X

Bittersweet Sixteen is a look into the lives of a group of teenage girls living in New York City and attending an out-of-your-reach expensive all-girls school. The story is told from the perspective of Laura, who is attending the school only because of scholarships. While her friends are wearing designer clothes and renting private jets to fly to Europe, Laura gets caught up in the whirlwind of being a teenage girl trying to "keep up with the Joneses." The language and descriptions used in this book remind me of a mix of Fox's "The O.C." and MTV's "My Super Sweet 16." Bittersweet Sixteen would be enjoyed by any teenage girl who wonders what it would be like to have a glamorous life in New York City, but who knows that the reality of life is having great friends and family who allow you to be yourself.

Bonny Martens

Manhattan, KS

Copyright Assembly on Literature for Adolescents -- National Council of Teachers of English Fall 2006
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