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The First Part Last
by Angela Johnson
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780689849237 |
Awards
Winner of the 2004 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Literature for Young Adults
Winner of the 2004 Coretta Scott King Award for Best African-American Children's Writer
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
This little thing with the perfect face and hands doing nothing but counting on me. And me wanting nothing else but to run crying into my own mom's room and have her do the whole thing.
It's not going to happen....
Bobby is your classic urban teenaged boy — impulsive, eager, restless. On his sixteenth birthday he gets some news from his girlfriend, Nia, that changes his life forever. She's pregnant. Bobby's going to be a father. Suddenly things like school and house parties and hanging with friends no longer seem important as they're replaced by visits to Nia's obstetrician and a social worker who says that the only way for Nia and Bobby to lead a normal life is to put their baby up for adoption.
With powerful language and keen insight, Johnson looks at the male side of teen pregnancy as she delves into one young man's struggle to figure out what "the right thing" is and then to do it. No matter what the cost.
Review:
"In this companion novel, Johnson's fans learn just how Bobby, the single father for whom Marley baby-sits in Heaven, landed in that small town in Ohio. Beginning his story when his daughter, Feather, is just 11 days old, 16-year-old Bobby tells his story in chapters that alternate between the present and the bittersweet past that has brought him to the point of single parenthood. Each nuanced chapter feels like a poem in its economy and imagery; yet the characters — Bobby and the mother of his child, Nia, particularly, but also their parents and friends, and even newborn Feather — emerge fully formed. Bobby tells his parents about the baby ('Not moving and still quiet, my pops just starts to cry') and contrasts his father's reaction with that of Nia's father ('He looks straight ahead like he's watching a movie outside the loft windows'). The way he describes Nia and stands by her throughout the pregnancy conveys to readers what a loving and trustworthy father he promises to be. The only misstep is a chapter from Nia's point of view, which takes readers out of Bobby's capable hands. But as the past and present threads join in the final chapter, readers will only clamor for more about this memorable father-daughter duo — and an author who so skillfully relates the hope in the midst of pain. Ages 12-up." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"Brief, poetic, and absolutely riveting, this gem of a novel tells the story of a young father struggling to raise an infant." School Library Journal
Review:
"Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again." Booklist
Synopsis:
In this winner of the Printz Medal and Coretta Scott King Award--a companion to the Coretta Scott King Award-winning "Heaven"--Johnson probes right to the heart of the issues involved with teenage pregnancy and fatherhood with precision, grace, and keen insight.)
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
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evitacheng, February 9, 2008 (view all comments by evitacheng)
This book is really good. I have 100,000 girlfriends that are 10 years old that have babies and are adapting to their new lifestyle.
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cidrapr95, November 26, 2007 (view all comments by cidrapr95)
To begin with i had first seen this book and i love it and for me a 9th grader im gonna start to read it becuase these are things that could happen to me
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leedamoon, March 21, 2007 (view all comments by leedamoon)
I L-O-V-E this book I read it once in the ninth grade and ever since I've looked everywhere for it until I found it. I just love the way Ms. Johnson wrote this book and I look foward to reading more of her books.
View all 6 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780689849237
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Simon Pulse
- Author:
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General
- Subject:
- Social Situations - Adolescence
- Subject:
- Family - New Baby
- Subject:
- Social Situations - Pregnancy
- Subject:
- Situations / Pregnancy
- Subject:
- Social Issues - Adolescence
- Subject:
- Social Issues - General
- Subject:
- Social Issues - Pregnancy
- Copyright:
- 2005
- Edition Description:
- B101
- Publication Date:
- January 2005
- Binding:
- Mass Market Paperbound
- Grade Level:
- Young adult
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 144
- Dimensions:
- 7.06x4.16x.41 in. .17 lbs.
- Age Level:
- 12-17
