Date Finished: February 13, 2011
Summary: Lucy is in love with her boyfriend, Luke. Lucy is a dancer and has a big solo in the show and her boyfriend Luke is getting a baseball scholarship. Now their plans and goals are in jeopardy because after one buzzed night, Lucy finds out that she's pregnant.
Likes: I like the themes of the book, it definitely made me think about some different perspectives on the topic. The writing was short and sweet, it was mostly telling and not showing, but I could live with that. It seems like it was written for a younger audience, maybe middle schoolers or 9th and 10th graders. This could open up a lot to the imagination and definitely start a dialogue for kids this age. It should probably be one of those books that have questions included in the back asking kids what they think Lucy and Luke should do? What would they do? and stuff like that.
Dislikes: This book was just too short to make a qualified statement in terms of story. I read it in about 45 minutes. It seems to stop right when the story is getting interesting. I wanted to know what was going to happen with Lucy and her dance solo, especially when she has to tell her teacher that she's pregnant. I also wanted to know what Luke was planning to do about his scholarship. The book was less than one hundred pages. I've read short books before, the one that comes to mind is The First Part Last by Angela Davis which is about a similar topic. That book packed a punch in a short amount of time, but this book doesn't seem to gloss the surface. Even though I wasn't too crazy about it, Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles is short and simple as well. Perhaps if it started later and went into the consequences of her actions, without being preachy, I think it would have work. I definitely think it needs another one hundred pages or so
Overall: This wasn't a bad book, but it was so incredibly short that I can't really make a good judgment about it. This seems to be a part of a series, even though it does follow a different character at the school, it would be interesting if these characters show up again. I thought this book was more of a YA, but it reads more like a Middle Grade book. It's an ARC, so I'm wondering if some things will be fleshed out when the final draft is printed, I'm not really sure how ARCs and stuff work. I'm assuming since it made it this far, it's pretty much a done deal. That being said, it's more of a discussion starter for a sex ed class then it is an actual story or novel.
Recommended by: My senior thesis about teen pregnancy and the summary sounded pretty interesting.
Acquired: Netgalley
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