Bitter
Tastes
V.B. Rosendahl
Review by A. E.
Jaskiewicz
Who killed Miss
Janine
McCallum? That’s what new-to-Werner, North Carolina sixth-grader Kathy Harmon wants t find out. Miss Janine was the first friend that Kathy
made when she arrived in town, mainly because Miss Janine took the
Kooking With
Kids class that Kathy was forced to take.
But, also because Miss Janine didn’t judge Kathy for her
disability. Now, Miss Janine is dead,
and Kathy is going to find out who dunnit, with a little help from her
new best
friend Martha Cunningham.
From early on in
‘Bitter
Tastes’ you get right into the action.
The story starts with Kathy and Martha at the supposed killer’s
house,
cornered by the person who killed Miss Janine (though you don’t find
out who
the character is until the end). Then,
Kathy thinks back to all the events that lead up to her and Martha
being
trapped, from the first day of school, to the point when Kathy and
Martha
became friends, the two of them snooping around for information, etc. The book moves quickly, which keeps the
reader wanting to read more to find out what’s going to happen next. Each time one of the girls finds a clue, or
gets a hunch about something, you know that they’re going to be getting
into
some kind of situation, which is good for providing suspense to the
reader.
The two lead characters,
Kathy and Martha are both developed pretty well throughout the story. You find out a lot about their likes,
dislikes and insecurities. You also come
to realize why they became friends so quickly.
The other characters in the book are mostly likeable (or not
likeable,
if the case calls for it), but you don’t learn as much about most of
the other
characters.
The voice of the characters
in the book comes across as mostly too old for the young characters. Having sixth grade characters talking about
disposable income, or stating that the Vietnam War was a war that we
should not
have been in, just does not seem to me like conversations most kids in
that age
group would be having. These are just
two instances of things that made it sound to me like the kids were
talking at
a higher level than most kids in that age group.
I also thought that some of
the subject matter for the book was a little higher than would be found
in most
middle grade books. Talking about adult
characters having affairs and people not being sure of someone’s
paternity didn’t
seem like typical subject matter for the age level the book is intended.
As an upside on the subject
matter, the book did a fine job of showing that kids should not be
ashamed of
any disabilities they may have, or anything that makes them different
for that
reason. In the book, Kathy learns that
she shouldn’t be ashamed of her disability, and I think that’s a
wonderful
message for kids.
Overall, I would say that ‘Bitter
Tastes’ is an enjoyable, fast paced book for middle grade readers. Though some of the comments made throughout
the story seemed to be completely irrelevant to the plot, and some of
the
subject matter too grown up for the intended age level, I think most
kids would
enjoy the read as the mystery aspect and overall message are both good
and fun.