The First Part Last - Angela Johnson

Bobby, the teenage artist and single-parent dad in Johnson's Coretta Scott King Award winner, Heaven (1998), tells his story here. At 16, he's scared to be raising his baby, Feather, but he's totally devoted to caring for her, even as she keeps him up all night, and he knows that his college plans are on hold. In short chapters alternating between "now" and "then," he talks about the baby that now fills his life, and he remembers the pregnancy of his beloved girlfriend, Nia. Yes, the teens' parents were right. The couple should have used birth control; adoption could have meant freedom. But when Nia suffers irreversible postpartum brain damage, Bobby takes their newborn baby home. There's no romanticizing. The exhaustion is real, and Bobby gets in trouble with the police and nearly messes up everything. But from the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again. The great cover photo shows the strong African American teen holding his tiny baby in his arms. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

*this summary was pulled from Amazon.com*

Book Specs:
144 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (December 28, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0689849230
ISBN-13: 978-0689849237

This book was a really quick read! ANd for being such a quick read I really liked it. The story seems to be well developed in a small amount of space. The thoughts of the character are reflected in the writing: you can read through the exhaustion of Bobby. The plot twist about Nia was a little unexpected, although after I read the book I did some research on her condition and found that the medical condition was described right on and that if you knew what to look for the clues were throughout the entire novel.

Some reviews claim that this book is appropriate for grade 6 and up, others claim it is appropriate for grade 8 and up - personally I wouldn't use this book in a classroom younger than 9th or 10th grade, with 9th grade pushing it.

Some things to be wary of: mild language and one brief scene of intimacy.