Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

Susan has worked hard to overcome other people's perceptions of her. As the high school principal in a small town, her life is under a microscope. Her life is thrown for a loop when her daughter announces she's pregnant. Susan might be able to handle that - but then two more girls, her daughters' best friends, also announce that they're pregnant. The whole town is buzzing that there was a pregnancy pact and that Susan - who was a young, unmarried woman when her daughter was born - is responsible for it.

This book made me so frustrated. Who did these girls think they were? They decided to get pregnant but were not prepared to shoulder any of the responsibility, blindly and naively assured that their parents (their mothers) would take care of everything. Also not on their radar were the guys involved with the pregnancy. Ugh. This just made me sad. And I guess that means that Barbara Delinksy was doing a good job, because I think that was the point. I would be happy to think that it was a figment of her imagination, but it's what I see on things like MTV's 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. I really liked the cover of the book, especially after reading the story. The women could be the teens, or the parents (or maybe even both). It's probably just a stock photo, but it's very well chosen.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles
The Lit Report by Sarah N. Harvey
Reaction by Lesley Choyce
While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky
Girls in Trouble by Caroline Leavitt