Posts Tagged 'Pregnancy'

I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin

Published October 11, 2022 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Genre: Fantasy/Realistic Fiction

Margaret Moore and her friends all go to Marshall Naval School every summer and proudly represent Deck Five. The previous summer, however, things were cut short because sometime bad happened. Margaret and her three best friends are determined to make up for it this year by showing everyone how strong Deck Five is in all of their competitions. Margaret notices that several girls failed to return this year, however, and she doesn’t know why. She also knows that something happened to one of the boy campers as well, but she doesn’t understand why the gossip mill keeps blaming her for every bad thing that happened. She does know that if she had been honest with her friends about what was going on with her the previous summer then some of this drama may have been avoided. Is it too late to tell them everything? Will they be able to help her or is it too late?

This story is told through chapters that alternate between the two important summers. The language used is very flowery and poetic, which helps to tell the story in a very unique way, but may be difficult for some readers to follow. The major revelations of the story come out slowly and not always in order, forcing readers to pay attention and put the pieces together, but the payout is worth it as the ending of the story is powerful and satisfying. Fans of We Were Liars will enjoy this title. Recommended for higher level readers looking for something that will challenge them.

The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez

Published November 9, 2012 RAC , Realistic Fiction 1 Comment
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Genre:  Nonfiction

# of Pages:  215

RAC Book:  Yes

Gaby Rodriguez comes from a family with many teen pregnancies.  Her mother and all of her older sisters were teen moms and so far none of her siblings have made it into their early twenties without becoming parents.  Because of her family history, Gaby has been told her entire life that she will become another teen pregnancy statistic.  She works really hard in school and hopes to be a social worker one day.  For her senior project she decides to fake a pregnancy and then monitor all the comments, treatment, etc. that she receives due to everyone believing she is yet another pregnant teen in her small town.  She tells as few people as she can, even her boyfriend’s parents don’t know she’s not really pregnant.  Despite her choice to pursue this project throughout most of her senior year, she is surprised and hurt by some of the comments directed toward her.  By the end of the project she has many observations and revelations concerning how our society treats pregnant teens and how that treatment then affects their behavior.

This book asks you to think about the various ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural stereotypes surrounding teen pregnancy.  It is crazy to imagine a teen undergoing this project for months without getting fed up and just admitting the truth.  Her experience will resonate with many young girls, especially ones who have had obstacles in their young lives and have faced unwanted opinions because of it.  This is a very interesting read, but might be a difficult sell for teen boys.

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Published November 3, 2011 RAC , Realistic Fiction , Romance 3 Comments
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Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Romance

# of Pages:  349

RAC Book:  Yes

Carmen, Tibby, Bridget, and Lena are back ten years after the last installment of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  Now they are all approaching the age of 30 and they have struggled to keep their friendship alive.  Tibby moved to Australia with Bryan, Bridget lives with Eric in San Francisco, Lena lives alone in New York and works as an art professor, and Carmen lives with her horrible fiance in New York where she works as an actress.  Tibby has especially fallen out of touch with her friends, which is why they are all so surprised when she invites them to Greece for a reunion.  When the three girls arrive, Tibby is not there to greet them.  By nightfall they know something is wrong and by morning their worst fears are confirmed.  The way each woman handles this tragedy is to run away from each other, which seems a bit surprising considering how long they have been friends.  Can they ever recover from their loss?  Can they ever find their way in this world without wandering aimlessly forever?

Most of this book centers on Bridget, Lena, and Carmen coping with Tibby’s apparent suicide.  During this time the three women rarely speak to each other and choose to throw themselves into various other activities.  It seems sad they have been a bit lost these last ten years and it took a tragedy to wake them up.  It’s difficult to take characters who became famous in young adult novels and make them realistic adults.  In many ways, these characters were still the same immature girls who traded pants.  The ending was satisfying, but the journey was a bit frustrating as the characters repeatedly made decisions that seemed unrealistic for thirty-year-olds who have been friends since birth.

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

Published February 8, 2011 Historical Fiction , RAC 1 Comment
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Genre:  Historical Fiction

RAC:  Yes

This WWII story follows Sarah in 1942 and Julia in 2002.  Sarah’s family is rounded up by the French police and sent to a detention center, but her little brother refused to go and hid in a small closet in their room.  Sarah locked him in and kept the key promising to come back later in the day for him.  She did not think they would actually be detained since it was the French police and not the Germans rounding them up. When she realized she would not be going back to her home her and her father tried to leave to get her brother, but the police would not allow them out.  She held onto the key for weeks praying to find a way back to him.  In 2002 Julia is a reporter who is assigned an article on the roundup of Jewish families by French police.  She is shocked to find that many people living in Paris had no idea such a thing took place.  As she comes across Sarah’s story she becomes determined to find out what happened to the little girl.

This is a different angle on a topic that has been covered in numerous ways.  As the story moves between Sarah and Julia you cannot help but get immersed in finding out what happened to Sarah and her family.  Sarah’s journey is truly amazing and realistic as she is forced to face adult issues as a child.  The characters are written incredibly well in a complex, multi-faceted way.  Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys reading about this era.

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