Review: 15 yrs old and Pregnant. Now what?
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 5, 2012
This book was 3.25 stars for me. It wasn't as fluid and lacked emotional depth.The story was about Kalena More, a fifteen year old sophomore in high school and her growing pains. Kalena seemed like your typical teenager who loved going to the mall with friends and talking on the phone.When she is assigned a new partner in her P.E class, Kalena develops a crush on him. Isaiah is a good looking, playful and popular guy, so of course Kalena hopes that he could come to care for her. Soon after she discovers that Isaiah is interested, they begin spending all their time together, excluding of Kalena's other friends. Soon after they become close, Kalena discovers that she is pregnant. At 15 years old, she doesn't know what to do. She can't even take care of herself, so what can she do for a baby?This novel gives a realistic account of a year in the life of a teenager. Kalena's blasé attitude about sex, school work and even her future seems characteristic of this age group. She was clearly immature, and clearly in over her head. While I felt sorry for her, I couldn't help wondering about her family structure. Kalena's mom and dad was there, so why was she attention starved? I'll admit the relationship between Kalena and her parents was an enigma as I couldn't tell if they were close to her. They didn't seem as emotionally connected, so maybe that is why Kalena glommed on to the first guy who paid her any attention. Also, Kalena began going over Isaiah's house everyday after school. Didn't her parents ask her where she was, and what she was doing? Perhaps they could have encouraged her to be in after school clubs and other activities to keep her busy.I would have liked more character building. I would have liked to know the characters better. Kalena didn't seem ambitious before the baby. I can't speak for Isaiah. We don't know about Isaiah's academic dreams but he seemed to be doing well academically. The relationship between Kalena and Isaiah wasn't as long as I initially thought it was. In fact, all this happened in a span of a few weeks, maybe 6-8 weeks before she got pregnant. I also think that Isaiah didn't necessarily have to be a bad guy. He is a typical fifteen year old boy who isn't ready to be a father either. So he handled the situation by acting immature as well.I don't know if Isaiah's mom had to be a villain either. Kalena seemed lazy and self-centered. This situation was probably difficult for all parties involved. I felt there was more going on there, and it wasn't voiced because we heard this story in Kalena's voice.I appreciate the author tackling the subject of teenage pregnancy, but I would have liked more in-depth emotional scenes. There were a few "moody" sceces, but I didn't feel Kalena's despair. In fact, Kalena's actions always seemed reactionary. She would do things because someone said something to her, or made her feel a certain way. She didn't seem to have a strong backbone or a handle on her own goals and desires. I liked the ending as it is encouraging. Kalena started thinking about her future more and how she was going to take care of herself. She began making plans whereas before the pregnancy she was floating through life.This novel was a good beginning for a discussion on a life-altering event. I hope that there is more dialogue on this subject matter.***book received from LibraryThing***