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
"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
"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
Bobby's a classic urban teenager. He's restless. He's impulsive. But the thing that makes him different is this: He's going to be a father. His girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant, and their lives are about to change forever. Instead of spending time with friends, they'll be spending time with doctors, and next, diapers. They have options: keeping the baby, adoption. They want to do the right thing.
If only it was clear what the right thing was.
About the Author
Angela Johnson has won three Coretta Scott King Awards, one each for her novels The First Part Last, Heaven, and Toning the Sweep. The First Part Last was also the recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award. She has written numerous books for younger readers, including the Coretta Scott King Honor Book When I Am Old with You, illustrated by David Soman; Wind Flyers and I Dream of Trains, both illustrated by Loren Long; A Sweet Smell of Roses, illustrated by Eric Velasquez; and Lottie Paris Lives Here, illustrated by Scott M. Fischer. In recognition of her outstanding talent, Angela was named a 2003 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Kent, Ohio.