June 27, 2011
In this debut effort, Greenman avoids allowing her story to become an issue novel, but unfortunately it comes across as more of a teen pregnancy fantasia. It begins when 17-year-old Thea falls in love with Will, a senior at their elite New York City public school. After Thea becomes pregnant, she initially plans to have an abortion, but changes her mind at the last minute. Despite her first-person narrative, Thea's motivations, along with those of most of Greenman's characters, are frequently opaque. Thea and Will move in together in a rent-controlled sublet (she's gotten into NYU in the meantime) and are given $20,000 by their parents; even after a traumatic accident turns Will and Thea against each other and forces Thea to move in with her father, there's little sense of the enormity of the path Thea has embarked upon or even her feelings toward the son she is so desperate to keep. Despite setbacks, Thea's life feels rather charmedâperhaps most of all when her crocheting hobby leads to a business selling $300 bikinisâsapping the story of authenticity. Ages 14âup.
July 15, 2011
Thea Galehouse, adrift and under-motivated, is a junior at Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School when she meets senior Will Weston and makes him the center of her world.
Halfway through senior year, she gets pregnant, to the dismay of her divorced parents and Will, now a Columbia freshman. Walking away from the abortion her mother arranged and rejecting adoptive placement, Thea resolves to raise her child with Will. At first reluctantly supportive, Will feels increasingly overwhelmed, although the couple's affluent parents smooth their path. Thea begins to crochet bikinis, to explore and develop talents of her own, as she weathers the challenges of unplanned motherhood and gains insight into her own professionally high-functioning, but otherwise clueless parents. If Thea's voice, wry and detached, sometimes belies her actions (her instant passion for Will and irrational choices), it's always smart and appealing. Greenman knows her world inside out, but it's a narrow one: Here, access to first-rate medical care is a given—including safe, legal abortion—and teen parents can rely on generous housing and financial safety nets from their own parents.
What keeps this strong debut on course is its accumulation of myriad, closely observed details, the building blocks of fiction that delineate character and bring an imagined world, narrow or not, to life. (Fiction. 14 & up)
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
October 1, 2011
Gr 10 Up-Thea Galehouse, a junior at New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School, knows she should focus on grades and college options. Then she meets senior Will Weston and quickly becomes hooked on him. When she skips a birth-control pill and becomes pregnant, she schedules an abortion but opts out at the last minute. Though angry and disappointed, her parents support her decision to put college on hold, get an apartment with Will, and raise their son, Ian. At this point, teen readers may want to shake Thea. She asserts her independence by claiming that life with Will "feels real," even as she clings to childhood by crocheting a replica of a bikini she wore as a young girl. This hobby provides an escape-and potential income-and lends the title its double meaning. After Thea accidentally scalds the infant with some boiling water, Will begins to distrust her and eventually pushes her to give him up for adoption. Here Thea finally comes into her own, both as a character and as a young mother. Oddly, there is little mention of her physical experience of pregnancy, and her labor and delivery take less than one page. Greenman's pacing is sometimes off, and, in many scenes, the timing doesn't jibe. The rags-to-riches ending strains believability, with Thea poised to launch a luxury crocheted accessories line. Her transition from arrogantly naive teen to devoted young mom learning to balance her life may hook a few readers, but this is an additional purchase.-Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA
Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 1, 2011
Grades 8-11 Thea and Will have an immediate connection when they meet in high school, and their relationship improves when Will starts college nearby. But challenges begin when Thea gets pregnant. The two move in together after Thea's graduation, and Thea gives birth to healthy baby Ian. Then Greenman kicks in the realism: Thea feels exhausted and adrift after Will's classes resume, her friends move on, and her relationships with her divorced parents change. After Ian has an accident under Thea's care, Will wants to place the baby up for adoption. Along with her overwhelming love for Ian, the one constant for Thea is her crochet project, assisted by the owner of a yarn shop who becomes an inspirational ally. Greenman uses crochet as a metaphor for making, unraveling, or remaking a projector a life. Thea and Will are written to be both bright and natural in how they cope with issues beyond their years. The final chapter believably demonstrates that new beginnings are informed by lessons learned in a happy, if not happily-ever-after, ending.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2012
Teen Thea, desperately in love with Will, finds herself pregnant. She decides to keep the baby despite the challenges. After an accident with baby Ian, the couple splits up; Thea is surprised to find support from her workaholic father. She also starts a business, hires a nanny, gets a day job, and possibly reconciles with Will, all of which is a little unbelievable.
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
July 15, 2011
Thea Galehouse, adrift and under-motivated, is a junior at Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School when she meets senior Will Weston and makes him the center of her world.
Halfway through senior year, she gets pregnant, to the dismay of her divorced parents and Will, now a Columbia freshman. Walking away from the abortion her mother arranged and rejecting adoptive placement, Thea resolves to raise her child with Will. At first reluctantly supportive, Will feels increasingly overwhelmed, although the couple's affluent parents smooth their path. Thea begins to crochet bikinis, to explore and develop talents of her own, as she weathers the challenges of unplanned motherhood and gains insight into her own professionally high-functioning, but otherwise clueless parents. If Thea's voice, wry and detached, sometimes belies her actions (her instant passion for Will and irrational choices), it's always smart and appealing. Greenman knows her world inside out, but it's a narrow one: Here, access to first-rate medical care is a given--including safe, legal abortion--and teen parents can rely on generous housing and financial safety nets from their own parents.
What keeps this strong debut on course is its accumulation of myriad, closely observed details, the building blocks of fiction that delineate character and bring an imagined world, narrow or not, to life. (Fiction. 14 & up)
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)