Review: The Live! Students Cover Teen Pregnancy and Discover Courageous Teen Moms
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 13, 2013
Julie comes to class one day trying to show her pictures of her cousin's baby to the Live! staff and a story idea is presented to the class from Ms. Wright.  Go to Haven House and interview some of the unwed teen moms living there.  Sarah, Molly, and Josh volunteer their efforts for this story while Darby, Izzy and Jake work on a different story interviewing peers in their high school about their future plans.  There's such a huge contrast in these stories and it's even commented by Darby and Izzy how boring their story is because the interviews are predictable.As Sarah, Molly, Josh and Gary put together the interviews at Haven House, it's amazing how each girl's story is different yet touching.  This is yet another story that will change the Live! crew's perspective on everything.  Sarah, Molly, and Josh are emotionally exhausted after covering this story yet they learn a lot and meet lots of interesting people.  One girl doesn't want to be interviewed on television so she hands Molly her journal instead and the reader gets a private glimpse into her situation that is humbling and precious.  Molly and Sarah really get to love the girls at Haven House and promise to visit when the story is finished.Many angles are discussed in this book regarding teen pregnancy and even the parents' perspective is openly talked about and seen in a different light.  Haven House is funded by different churches, but that doesn't mean that every family involved does the right thing or understands what's best to do for their pregnant daughter.  Molly and Sarah even get to talk with two different moms who work on the Board of Directors and are amazed by their responses.Sarah goes to the gym as part therapy, part health regiment and when Darby accompanies her during one scene, she is motivated to start working out more herself.  Sarah also gets an opportunity to teach an aerobics class at the end and it's a joy to see her feeling more like a "normal" teen.  It was wonderful to see her excitement, but normal feels way too overrated for these great kids.Kate meets a guy online and discovers that online dating is not as simple or as easy as she thought it would be.Izzy does not have a large role in this book, which felt slightly disappointing, but he does get to watch the Haven House video when it's completed and it's endearing how he reacts.Josh and the guys with Live! decide to attend a meeting with the teen dads connected with Haven House one evening at a church and even though Josh's peers want nothing to do with this meeting, they agree to bring Josh moral support.  As they are filming the meeting, the Live! team are very surprised by how much these teen dads want to help their girlfriends (one is a newlywed and exhausted) and the information they cover turns out to be expressive and informing.Faded Dreams is not as lighthearted as the other books in the series turned out to be, but it does cover a realistic and relevant topic that is valuable and worthwhile.  Gary and Molly get to have a birthday celebrated in this book that shows the closeness of this group.  I truly enjoyed this series and each book can be read in one sitting.  "Molly's question was left unanswered.  What would they cover next for "Live!"?  They would have to wait for another day to find out."  Feels like this series will be continued, but for now I'm glad to see how it concluded.I want to thank the author and Litfuse Publicity Group for the free review copy I received. The opinions expressed are my own.