“If the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They'd be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end...”
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson (Simon Pulse, 2003)
Genre: Problem Novel, Real Life Fiction, General Fiction, African America, Urban drama
Honors: Georgia Peach Book Award (2004), Printz Award (2004), Coretta Scott King Award for Author (2004), ALA Teens' Top Ten (2003), ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2004) Abraham Lincoln Award Nominee (2006) [Honors Information found at Goodreads.com]
Review: Bobby's life changes forever when he finds out Nia, his girlfriend, is pregnant. In this narrative that takes place in both the time after his daughter is born and in the past while Nia was pregnant, the author gives a very real life look at the life of a teenage father.
Opinion: I listened to this book on audio and I think that the narrator did an absolutely fantastic job. Because I listened to this, I didn't realize it was a Printz winner until I started looking up the information on the honors! When I started I wasn't sure if I would life this book, but I ended up loving it. About a quarter of the way through I knew something had gone wrong with the delivery and it was hard for me to continue on becuase I was so into the characters that the idea that something happened to Nia during delivery was almost too much for me to bear emotionally. I also liked that this is a look at not only teenage fatherhood, but teenage single fatherhood which is a whole other ball game!
Ideas: I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for books on teen pregnancy, or problem novels, or very realistic teenage life. I would also recommend this book for anyone looking for an African America author or main character. It was so well written, and still very short that I would recommend it very easily to just about anyone.
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