Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles
Release Date: August 11, 2009
Publisher: Candlewick
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 240
From: book fairy
Interest: n/a
One pregnancy. Four friends. It all adds up to a profound time of change in this poignant, sensitively written YA novel.
Ellie remembers how the boys kissed her. Touched her. How they begged for more. And when she gave it to them, she felt loved. For a while anyway. So when Josh, an eager virgin with a troubled home life, leads her from a party to the backseat of his van, Ellie follows. But their "one-time thing" is far from perfect: Ellie gets pregnant. Josh reacts with shame and heartbreak, while their confidantes, Caleb and Corinne, deal with their own complex swirl of emotions. No matter what Ellie chooses, all four teenagers will be forced to grow up a little faster as a result. Told alternately from each character’s point of view, this deeply insightful novel explores the aftershocks of the biggest decision of one fragile girl’s life — and the realities of leaving innocence behind.
Knowles did a fantastic job of depicting a delicate situation, very realistically and very emotionally, through the eyes of four characters. With so many different prominent characters, I'm sure it was no easy task making each of them three-dimensional and fully developed. Kudos to Knowles for that!
For me the novel was more than just a book about teenage pregnancy, it was the stark contrast between kids that come from a stable and loving home life, to ones that don't. Unfortunately, I think the plot relied on that a little to much.
Knowles writing flowed nicely. This was the first novel of hers that I've read, and I'm definitely a fan of her writing. Looking forward to more novels by this author.