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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan






From Good Reads:
Nobody gets away with telling Eleanor Crowe what to do. But as a pregnant sixteen-year-old, her options are limited: move to Kenya with her missionary parents or marry the baby’s father and work at his family’s summer camp for overweight kids. 

Despite her initial reluctance to help out, Elly is surprised that she actually enjoys working with the campers. But a tragedy on the very day her baby is born starts a series of events that overwhelms Elly with unexpected emotions and difficult choices. Somehow, she must turn her usual obstinance in a direction that can ensure a future for herself—and for the new life she has created.

My thoughts:
Open this book with the cute name and cute cover and discover a moving story about sixteen year old Eleanor Crowe,who is indeed pregnant.  Unsure about whether the baby with just be a pause in her life or if the baby will forever change her life, Elly has a lot of decisions to make and growing up to do.

I really liked a lot of different aspects of this novel.  I really liked Elly to begin with.  She is honest and real and has flaws that really bring her character to life.  Elly knows she has made a lot of mistakes in her life, and even as she makes some positive changes for the baby's sake she is still an immature, child/woman who does not know what to do. Elly does not have a strong support system and that made me feel empathy for her character.  Elly's immaturity, especially with relationships, made me feel exasperated with her at times.  Finally Elly's compassion for the campers and her baby made me love her.

This story does not glamorize teen pregnancy in any way and I really liked that.  It is clear that Elly's life is forever changed, no matter what she decides to do with her baby.

While this book tackles a hard topic and does have references to sex, drug and alcohol use, it does so tactfully and in a way that I think will make people NOT want to engage in these types of behaviors.

The conclusion to this book contains several unexpected, an emotional, twists. I enjoyed the story and the find the outcome very thought provoking. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes edgy realistic fiction.

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