The First Part Last | Angela Johnson

The First Part Last | Angela Johnson | A Teenager's Review.

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The First Part Last

	The First Part Last Angela Johnson Simon Pulse, 2004 - 144 pages average customer review:based on 83 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Bobby's a classic urban teenager. He's restless. He's impulsive. But the thing that makes him different is this: He's going to be a father. His girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant, and their lives are about to change forever. Instead of spending time with friends, they'll be spending time with doctors, and next, diapers. They have options: keeping the baby, adoption. They want to do the right thing.

If only it was clear what the right thing was.

A Heartbreaking Story

I think the title of this review says it all. Angela Johnson's "The First Part Last" broke my heart. I deliberately read through this thin volume slowly as to make my time with the characters last. The result was me laying in bed in tears, almost borderline at doing the "ugly cry," about the plight of Bobby and his beautiful daughter Feather. Johnson does an excellent job of creating characters that are both uncompromising and richly drawn. It is one of the best books I have ever read.

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A Teenager's Review.

I've read other reviews, and how this book should be read by all teens. No kidding. I am seventeen years old (only one year older than Bobby-the main character) and finished reading this book the same day I borrowed it from my English teacher. What a great book. I have a hard time putting into words how much better and more in touch with reality I felt after finishing this book.

Like most males my age, I feel like Superman, and say "Oh that would never happen to me" when subjects like teen pregnancy are brought to my attention. I realize after reading this book my arrogance has only crippled me and made me less prepared to take on the reality that is life. I don't think I could ever go through the events that take place in "The First Part Last" and ended up respecting the character Bobby as the man he wasn't at all prepared to be in the beginning of the story.

I am ready to recommend this book to just about every single one of my friends and family members.

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THE FIRST PART LAST ;

This story is mainly about a boy that has a baby and he lives with is mother and he doesn't know if he wants to keep his baby or not or if he wants to give it away. Also he doesn't know where his baby's mother is, but he has a girlfriend that helps him from time to time but he also has two bestfriends that don't make his life any easier, they just make his life a little bit worse than it is already. The make it worse because they always ask him if he is going to get rid of his baby or not, they even tell him they should and he gets mad. At times they help him on the decisions he makes. Also, even though they give him rough times they still have his back through whatever so he decides to keep his baby and finish school and have a good life and his mom and friends and his girlfriend told him they would help through it all. I'm in the 8th grade, people that would read this book are 7th and 8th graders because I wouldn't think younger people will enjoy a boy talking about his problems in life, I like this book because it teaches you about responsibilities in life and how you should handle things your way.

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I Was Moved By The Ending

Bobby is raising his baby, Feather.
Teenagers Nia and Bobby are going to be parents.
The chapters of this book don't follow the typical sequential order. Throughout the novel sixteen year old Bobby tells what's going on in his life 'now', and what happened 'then'. The story jumps from present to past, letting the reader know how things are for Bobby as a teen parent as well as how his life was during his girlfriend, Nia's, pregnancy. He fathers a child and, taking responsibility for his actions, he chooses to raise his daughter(without a whole lot of help from his parents)instead of giving her up for adoption.
The author shows the reader teen parenting from a young man's point of view. The story is thought-provoking, and the selfless decision Bobby made in the end moved me.

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single father

It gives nothing about this book away to say up front that it's about a single father in high school raising his brand new daughter. Johnson alternates the action forward and backward from the birth of the child, showing Bobby's struggles caring for an infant, and also giving brief glimpses of how things went when Nia was pregnant.

By itself, it's a touching but realistic story of two students with promising futures that suddenly give way to parenthood because of one mistake. But for me, the story really came down to the question of why Bobby was raising the baby. This question is answered toward the end of the book, and to reveal that really would give the whole thing away.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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