Simon and Schuster, 2003
ISBN 0-689-84922-2
Summary:
This story of teenage pregnancy is told by the 16-year-old father, Bobby, who gropes his way through the very adult responsibility of taking care of his baby. He experiences the joy of loving someone completely as well as the confinement of caring for someone who is so dependent.
Critical Analysis:
Angela Johnson twists the expected teenage pregnancy book by writing from the often overlooked male perspective. Although Bobby does not actually carry the baby for nine months, his relatively carefree world changes along with that of his girlfriend.
The story is told in alternating past and present chapters, allowing the reader to see Bobby's present parenting unfold while being held in suspense about the past: Where is the baby's mother? Why didn't the teens put the baby up for adoption? Why is this boy raising his child?
The story addresses the day-to-day reality of parenthood. Bobby laments, "I should have scoped how the day was going when Feather puked on me just as I picked her up out of her crib this morning." Every parent can relate to Bobby's having "about twenty minutes' sleep in the last three days" when caring for an infant. While Bobby clearly loves his daughter, no young reader will mistake parenthood for an easy job after reading this book.
Of course, along with the misery, Bobby experiences the joy of loving someone who is an actual part of himself. The reader can feel the depth of his bond with his daughter when he describes the end of a long day: "Afterward I always kiss her, my baby, and look into her clear eyes that know everything about me, and want me to be her daddy anyway."
The story is told in a believable manner for teens. In addition to being a dad, Bobby is a typical teenager who deals with parents, school, friends, love, loss, and his own uncertainty about the future.
In Chapter One, Bobby muses,
"I've been thinking about it. Everything. And when Feather opens her eyes and looks up at me, I already know there's a change. But I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They'd be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end.
Then everybody could end life on their mamma or daddy's stomach in a warm room, waiting for the soft morning light."
Although Bobby's rights of passage are more harsh than those of the average teen, he does grow wiser with experience, a feat any story's hero might hope to accomplish.
Review Excerpts:
"There's no romanticizing. The exhaustion is real, and Bobby gets in trouble with the police and nearly messes up everything. But from the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again."
Hazel Rochman, Booklist, September 1 2003, v.100, no. 1
"The story is deepened by realistic portrayals of Bobby's loving but tough mother, who refuses to raise her son's child, and his softer, more forgiving father, but mostly it's the unfolding tale of Bobby and Feather as he tries to find the best way to raise his child, remember her mother, and live his life."
Deborah Stevenson, Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, September 2003, v. 57 no. 1
Connections:
- Have students brainstorm what they know about caring for a baby. Calculate how much time a day is needed to care for a newborn baby.
- Research statistics about teen pregnancy in the U.S. How have the numbers changed over the past ten years?
- Research the medical dangers to teenage mothers and their babies.
- Compare this book to more typical teenage pregnancy stories told from the mother's point of view.
- Respond to the way Bobby's mother does not take on the role of caring for Feather. Why do you think she does this? Do you think she's making a wise choice?
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