The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir by Gaby Rodriguez with Jenna Glatzer

It's difficult to talk about teen pregnancy in a public way. Too often it takes either one of two routes: teen parents are either villainized, judged, and written off or glamourized and placed in situations that become so unlike the majority of teen parents. For her senior project, Gaby Rodriguez wanted to look beyond those portrayals to the real people that the pregnancy involves.Teen pregnancy was something that was very present in her life: her mother had been a teen mom, her brothers and sisters had faced teen pregnancy or young parenthood, and people always told her how she was destined to follow in their footsteps. For her project, Gaby decided to get pregnant - a fake pregnancy - and see how people reacted to her. Would they think that she was living down to expectations? Would the pregnancy nullify all of her good grades and her previous reputation? What would her friends say? What would people who didn't even know her say? Gaby wanted to compile their reactions and talk about the way that pregnant teens are treated. With only her mom, her boyfriend, and a few teachers in on the assignment, she had no idea what she was heading into.

The book is divided into three parts: before, during, and after the 'pregnancy.' I had expected most of the story to focus on pretending to be pregnant, so I was surprised when so much time was spent talking about her family and detailing her relationship with her brothers and sisters. This backstory, however, was crucial to understanding how passionate Gaby was about this project. She didn't just see teen pregnancy in the abstract; she saw it as part of her life. Equally interesting was the media reaction to the story. Almost overnight Gaby was courted by major television networks wanting to tell her story. Many people would think that it would be cool to have The Today Show or Good Morning America wanting to interview you, but when Gaby describes the way that the media hounded her and, for lack of a better word, stalked her, it's not the glamorous story that you might have had in mind. I did wonder how much of this was an attempt at shaping a story - in order to make it clear that she didn't want fame or a book deal or a Lifetime movie, does she go overboard in describing how she tried to hide from the media? Possibly. But I truly do believe that the project came from a very real place, a place that was determined to make a difference and change how people think about teen pregnancy. I do think that the book would have benefited from pictures, especially ones that show what Gaby looked like during her experiment, but the words can stand on their own. At just over two-hundred pages, it's not a long book, but it does tell an incredible story.

Gaby's story is also a Lifetime movie.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Not Afraid of Life by Bristol Palin
Science Fair Season by Judy Dutton
Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

The Implosion of Aggie Winchester by Lara Zielin

Aggie Winchester's life just became extremely complicated. Her friend Sylvia is pregnant - and the father refuses to publicly acknowledge Sylvia or the baby. On top of that, a new girl at school is driving a wedge between Sylvia and Aggie's friendship. Aggie's mom, who is also the principal, is undergoing cancer treatments. And all of this is coming to a head as a rumour starts that Aggie's mom interfered with the prom court elections to prevent Sylvia, a pregnant Goth, from winning. Add in some boy trouble of her own, and Aggie isn't sure what to do anymore. Will things ever get back to normal?

One thing that I thought worked particularly well in this book is how Lara Zielin nailed the high school dynamic of a friend that you're friends with because of circumstance, not because you necessarily like them. Aggie is a particularly interesting character because she's still trying to find out who she is. She doesn't necessarily want to be a Goth, but she doesn't necessarily want to live exactly as her parents want her to. Her rebellion seemed realistic. There was also some extremely questionable parenting choices being made by Aggie's parents, but unlike, say, Wait Till Helen Comes (one of the first books that inspired by 'questionable parenting' tag), the choices are understandable if not necessarily right. Sometimes the strands of the dramas seemed to be bordering on a bit too much, but Zielin has a strong writing style that kept everything in check.

Check out Lara Zielin's website.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Six Rules of Maybe by Deb Caletti
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
Prom Kings and Drama Queens by Dorian Cirrone
Donut Days by Lara Zielin

Crossed by Ally Condie

(Warning: Crossed is a sequel to Matched, so this part has spoilers for Matched. There will be another spoiler warning below for Crossed.)

Cassia's world was turned upside down when she was matched with Xander...but saw an image of Ky on her official match microchip. This confusion led her to question her feelings about Xander, and Ky, and to wonder about the total control that's exercised by the society officials. Crossed picks up where Match left off - with Cassia and Ky on the very fringes of society, alone and thinking about rebellion - and each other.

(Spoilers follow, both for Matched and Crossed.)

When I started reading Crossed and saw where the characters were, I was afraid that it would take the entire novel for Cassia and Ky to get back together and the book would seem like it was just killing time. I was pleased with both the speed at which Cassia and Ky found each other but also how well the story worked when they were apart. I thought that the new characters were interesting and fit into the novel's world very well. The action in this book raised the stakes to true life-or-death situations. And, though, he took more of a backseat in this book, I'm curious to see how Xander will fit into the story again. I'm now very excited to see what happens in the third book, scheduled to be released in November 2012.

Check out Ally Condie's website.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Penguin Canada.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Matched by Ally Condie
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Freshman for President by Ally Condie
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Swimming to Chicago by David-Matthew Barnes

In the summer, everything seemed like it was going well for Alex. He was in a relationship (a secret relationship, but still some kind of something) with Tommy, a star football player at their high school. His relationship with his best friend Jillian wasn't perfect, but it was nothing that he couldn't deal with. Then things started unraveling. Tommy broke up with him, and as awful as that was, it was only the beginning. New kid in town Robby might be a second chance at...something, but Robby has lots of baggage of his own. While dealing with homophobia, grief, parental relationships, scandal, suicide, teen pregnancy, and small town secrets, is it possible for these two to find a way toward happiness?

My one-word review for Swimming to Chicago would be "drama!" The characters must face difficult emotional situation after difficult emotional situation, all building to a violent conclusion that draws these plots together. I would have liked a chance to spend more time understanding how the characters were reacting to the drama; Jillian, in particular, was a character I felt I knew little about. Because I knew so little, I wondered about the way that she talked to other characters and I didn't always understand why Alex would want to be friends with her (or, at times, why she would want to be friends with Alex). The book is told in two different parts, with a jump of about six months in between. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was some kind of character development or relationship information that I missed out on experiencing. Having said that, though, there is (spoiler alert) a part where a character is brutally attacked because of who he is. The description of this attack is just heartbreaking, beautifully written, and strong reminder that high school is not a safe place for all students.

I received a review copy from NetGalley courtesy of Bold Strokes Books.

Check out David-Matthew Barnes' website for more information.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
The Next Competitor by K.P. Kincaid
The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second by Drew Ferguson
Mesmerized by David-Matthew Barnes

Doormat by Kelly McWilliams

Jaime is used to feeling a bit plain next to her friend Melissa; Melissa always has lots of drama going on in her life. But this time Jaime is not prepared for what Melissa has to say: she's pregnant and she wants Jaime to help her. Jaime wants to help but is overwhelmed by how huge it is. At fourteen, she doesn't know how to help Melissa and as a doormat, she's not used to being listened to. Can she figure out the best way to handle this situation?

While not a long book (it comes in at around 125 pages), Doormat covers a lot of emotional territory. How can you help friends without taking on their troubles yourself? What do you do when a friend doesn't listen to reason? It also has an authenticity about high school, helped by the fact that the author Kelly McWilliams wasn't much older than the main characters when the book was written. I was, though, surprised to see the language used around abortion; it seemed like it was straight out of a 1960s story, not one from the 2000s. (Also, at one point a teacher advocates for abortion for teen pregnancy in class, during a lesson - I can't see that happening today without high profile media attention.) This is a good choice for students looking for 100+ page books for school and anyone looking for a solid shorter novel.


Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
My Life as a Doormat (A Comedy in Three Acts) by Rene Gutteridge
Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles
The Lit Report by Sarah N. Harvey
Butterflies in May by Karen Hart
How to Deal by Sarah Dessen

The Cellar by A.J. Whitten

There's a new guy in town. Adrien is hot, brooding, and everyone is in love with him. Heather is thrilled that he lives next door to her, because that makes her feel even closer to him. But Heather's twin sister Meredith doesn't feel the same way; in fact, she doesn't like Adrien at all, and she's not happy to see Heather falling in love with him. As Adrien and Heather's relationship gets more serious, Meredith becomes more determined to find out who Adrien really is. Is he the good guy Heather sees, the bad guy that Meredith sees - or is he something more, more monster than 'guy' at all? Things will never be the same after Meredith finds out what's going on in the cellar.

The Cellar is described as "Romeo and Juliet meet the living dead," so it's not surprising that this is a very dark, sometimes disgusting story. 'Good girl falls for bad guy' is a staple of teen fiction, and 'good girl falls for bad guy who's more than he seems' makes for a supernatural twist. The climax of The Cellar left me completely going "oh, no, it's not going to go there....", and the fact that it did left me conflicted; I couldn't tell if this made the book stronger to took it over the top. I do, though, want to read The Well, the other book by the mother-daughter pair who comprise the pseudonym of A.J. Whitten.

See more at A.J. Whitten's website.

Find it at IndieBound.

I read an advance copy through NetGalley.

Read it with:
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
Romeo's Ex: Rosalind's Story by Lisa Fiedler

Teen Angst? Naaah...by Ned Vizzini

Summer jobs. High school anxiety. The perfect prom. These are all tropes that are familiar to readers of YA fiction. In Teen Angst? Naaah, though, these stories move from fiction to non-fiction as Ned Vizzini shares the story of his life.

In a series of short episodes, Ned Vizzini captures the very essence of what it means to be growing up in the 1990s. Written while a teenager himself, Ned uses humour and an amazing eye for detail and nuance to construct a book that reaches far beyond his own single experience. I have to admit - I might be predisposed to be attracted to this book because I wrote an almost identical one when I was in high school. Sure, it wasn't about a New York high school student named Ned, but it was about me, and framed in little vignettes, and chronologically covered my high school career. Was it as good as this one? If I'm being honest, no...although I do think living in/near New York was an advantage, Ned Vizzini is really very talented and you can see it in this book. I can't wait to get my hands on his other books.

Find it at IndieBound.

Read it with:
Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Talking to Girls About Duran Duran by Rob Sheffield
Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
Cringe edited by Sarah Brown
Be True to Your School by Bob Greene