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Summary: Words that paint a thousand pictures.
Review: 7th grader Rory is a budding artist, inspired and guided by her father's passionate instruction and vision. Her mother is the breadwinner in the family, and must forego her own visions of independence in order to pay the bills while her husband's art career hits inevitable peaks and valleys.The strain between Rory's parents boils over when Rory catches her father in an embrace with one of his models. Shortly thereafter, Rory's father leaves their suburban New York home and takes up residence in Brooklyn. Although he writes regularly to Rory, he never addresses his infidelity, or his relationship with Rory's mother. Feeling abandoned and betrayed, Rory watches her artistic ambition and inspiration, once limitless and remarkably mature, rot away inside of her like the giant, dying tree that is symbolically cut down at the novel's beginning, foreshadowing the sea change about to send Rory's emotions into chaos. Rory is a completely believable protagonist whose swirling, confused, private universe is painted sharply yet tenderly by first-time novelist Mack. While readers less interested in art themselves may feel that the metaphor is occasionally strained, the power of Mack's images is undeniable: "The woods closed in around me, hard browns, flat greens. I tried to pull some air into my lungs, and it hurt. My legs were burning. But I pushed myself through the woods, through some strange picture in my mind. I was aiming straight for the vanishing point. I wanted more than anything to get there, to the end of the painting." It is not often that a book that deals so singularly with one character's introspection can be classified as a "page-turner," but eager readers, especially girls Rory's age, will finish "Drawing Lessons" in one sitting. Noteworthy in a book so intertwined with notions of color, light, and line is the design of the book itself, an attractive, gift-quality assemblage of matte dust-jacket, textured endpapers in muted peach, and gentle script chapter openings embellished with a subtle oak-leaf motif. A fitting presentation for this small but wondrous gift of a story.
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Summary: Drawing Lessons
Review: A father teaches his daughter everything about drawing and then she loses him when he moves away, and she loses her drawing skills? Imagine the devastation! After a while, though, she got used to her father being gone and they became close again, will she also get her drawing skills back? Before all of this even happened Rory felt as if she was in a dream. Everything was so perfect, her father was here and they were making a collage for her mother, she was happy. Then it turned into a nightmare. Her father just disappeared she was way too sad to draw anything. Her mother's birthday present was ruined and it seemed she was never going to get it. Rory was angry and sad at the same time and she just didn't know what to do! I enjoyed the book Drawing Lessons by Tracy Mack. It showed how devastating it is for your parents to get a divorce and what it is like for one of the parents to move away. I felt how Rory felt and I think I would have acted somewhat the same way she did. I also liked this book because when the characters started drawing the author really described how and what they were drawing very well. I could picture in my mind what they were drawing. For example when Rory was drawing her favorite tree that was supposed to be cut down she wanted to capture the image of the tree so she could see it forever. While she was drawing I could picture what that tree is going to look like. There is one reason that I didn't like the book and that is because I think it went a little too slow. The chapters were short, but I think at some points in the book the author dragged out the story, but all in all the book Drawing Lessons was worth reading.
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Summary: Drawing Lessons on Life
Review: A father teaches his daughter everything about drawing and then she loses him when he moves away, and she loses her drawing skills? Imagine the devastation! After a while, though, she got used to her father being gone and they became close again, will she also get her drawing skills back? Before all of this even happened Rory felt as if she was in a dream. Everything was so perfect, her father was here and they were making a collage for her mother, she was happy. Then it turned into a nightmare. Her father just disappeared she was way too sad to draw anything. Her mother's birthday present was ruined and it seemed she was never going to get it. Rory was angry and sad at the same time and she just didn't know what to do! I enjoyed the book Drawing Lessons by Tracy Mack. It showed how devastating it is for your parents to get a divorce and what it is like for one of the parents to move away. I felt how Rory felt and I think I would have acted somewhat the same way she did. I also liked this book because when the characters started drawing the author really described how and what they were drawing very well. I could picture in my mind what they were drawing. For example when Rory was drawing her favorite tree that was supposed to be cut down she wanted to capture the image of the tree so she could see it forever. While she was drawing I could picture what that tree is going to look like. There is one reason that I didn't like the book and that is because I think it went a little too slow. The chapters were short, but I think at some points in the book the author dragged out the story, but all in all the book Drawing Lessons was worth reading.
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Summary: What a Wonderful Book for the Young Teenager!
Review: As an artist, Rory's father has shared his wisdom and passion for drawing with such clarity and understanding that his words echo with in her. He has been the primary influence on her life. But when Rory discovers her dad in a compromising position with one of his models, her world changes. This is not simply a novel about divorce or separation. Rory has to face the very adult realization that her father may be something less than she envisioned. Rory's conflict with her father affects her relationships with her mother, best friend, favorite teacher and ultimately her art. How these emotions and relationships will be resolved create the tension and action in this novel. Tracy Mack depicts a memorable character who has the vision and heart of a gifted artist, but who faces a problem that we all eventually must -- what happens when the people we love and respect do not live up to the standards we have set for them. Her dad says that the great thing about painting is that "you can create your imaginary world to live in," but, for Rory, painting allows her to "bring back something you'd lost and keep it forever." This novel in a concise and real manner, shows how art rehabilitates and unifies. There are no easy answers here and no neat conclusions, but instead, a story with emotional and psychological depth. If you have a young adult in your life, share Drawing Lessons with them.
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Summary: Art Heals
Review: As an artist, Rory's father has shared his wisdom and passion for drawing with such clarity and understanding that his words echo with in her. He has been the primary influence on her life. But when Rory discovers her dad in a compromising position with one of his models, her world changes. This is not simply a novel about divorce or separation. Rory has to face the very adult realization that her father may be something less than she envisioned. Rory's conflict with her father affects her relationships with her mother, best friend, favorite teacher and ultimately her art. How these emotions and relationships will be resolved create the tension and action in this novel. Tracy Mack depicts a memorable character who has the vision and heart of a gifted artist, but who faces a problem that we all eventually must -- what happens when the people we love and respect do not live up to the standards we have set for them. Her dad says that the great thing about painting is that "you can create your imaginary world to live in," but, for Rory, painting allows her to "bring back something you'd lost and keep it forever." This novel in a concise and real manner, shows how art rehabilitates and unifies. There are no easy answers here and no neat conclusions, but instead, a story with emotional and psychological depth. If you have a young adult in your life, share Drawing Lessons with them.
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Summary: A charged, involving, subtle, entertaining story.
Review: Aurora is an artist like her father, but when her family splitsup she denies her art and needs to find a different way of beingconnected to family and the world in this moving, subtle story of a girl's coming of age and encounter with divorce. A charged, involving story.
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Summary: drawing lessons
Review: drawing lesson's is about a girl named Rory andhow she loves to draw.One day she found her dad kissing another womanbut she did not tell her mom because she did not want to upseat her mom.Rory's dad finally told her mom.They split up,she she stoped drawing because her dad left.It took a long time before she began to draw again.I reccomend the book to all people there were some sad parts but it is a good book.
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Summary: Drawing Lessons
Review: Drawing Lessons shows how dispute and change in a family affects children. It shows how if you take the sadness and pain and bottle it up, you can release it to be something much more beautiful.
Rating: 
Summary: Drawing Lessons
Review: Drawing Lessons Drawing Lessons is a book about a 13-year-old girl, Aurora who can't deal with the fact that her dad left her family. She saw him kissing another woman but said nothing about it to her mom. It takes Aurora some time before she begins to draw again. I would recommend this book it is a realistic fiction and I felt like some times I could relate to Aurora, he one thing I didn't like about the book was I felt like there was no action I n the beginning of the book but the end was more interesting
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Summary: drawing lessons
Review: I thoguht the story was pretty good, other than it being a classic "dad leaves mom" story, with a child stuck in the middle. There weren't many details though, so it was really hard to visualize what was happening. There wasn't much told about what the house and the barn and all looked like. It was a good story, but weak in the way it was told.
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