Overview

Is this happily ever after? Lucy has her life planned out: she'll graduate and then join her boyfriend, Luke, at college in Austin. She'll become a Spanish teacher and of course they'll get married. So there's no reason to wait, right? They try to be careful. But then Lucy gets pregnant. Now, none of Lucy's options are part of her picture-perfect plan. Together, she and Luke will have to make the most difficult decision of their lives.

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9780761361633

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Reviews

Students at Southside High are dealing with real-life dilemmas, such as pregnancy, military deployment, and football recruitment. Readers are given examples showing that each choice has consequences. This series highlights middle class high school students dealing with issues that hit home today. Different authors tackle different issues, but each novel is similar in style. A likable character is introduced who seems to live an ordinary life. The character then struggles with options. Finally they make the right decisions and leave the reader thinking about each situation. The series is written at a lower level for older students. The topics are interesting and relevant, and present characters readers can empathize with. With each novel being around 100 pages, students who struggle with reading or finding interesting material to read should pick one up. Recommended. --Library Media Connection --Journal Similar to the 'Bluford' series (Townsend), these high-interest contemporary urban fiction books focus on teenagers trying to navigate adolescence in the midst of difficult situations. After Benito's father is deployed to Iraq, the teen does his best to be the man of the house. When Xavier returns, the family is overjoyed, but soon realize that being a soldier has changed him from the cheerful soccer-playing dad they knew into someone who is fearful, tense, and angry. With the strength of their family bond, they struggle to help him and to regain the closeness and stability they once enjoyed. In Plan B, Lucy's life is perfect; she has a caring mother, great friends, and, best of all, a boyfriend whom she loves. However, after Lucy and Luke make a careless decision, their lives change forever, and she needs to find the right answer for them. In Recruited, Kadeem is ecstatic when scouts shower him with gifts, dinners, and parties and he realizes that his dream of playing college football may be coming true. His happiness quickly turns to dread, though, as he learns that the incentives offered to him are violations of recruitment policy. Given the chance to help stop the unethical behavior, he has to make a heartfelt decision. These well-written stories reinforce the importance of family, friends, values, and thoughtful decision-making. Characters that readers will identify with and care about are combined with realistic plots that reflect society today. Excellent purchases, these books will attract and engage reluctant readers. --School Library Journal --Journal Just making it into a triple-digit page count, this is the first entry in the new quick-reading Surviving Southside series. Narrator Lucy is a dancer from a single-parent home, and her boyfriend, Luke, is a baseball player from a successful nuclear household. Their plans for post-high-school happiness are thrown into disarray when Lucy becomes pregnant. How the teens, their friends, and their families deal with the situation forms the heart of this story, in which everyone is surprisingly supportive. After debating between adoption, abortion, and parenthood, Lucy and Luke are still unsure of what to do, and a visit to a doctor's office ends with the words, 'I don't know. Let's go.' The teens' realistic debates and ambivalence will hit home with the target audience. A cover featuring ethnically vague teens, large margins, and rapid pacing likely enhance this book's appeal as a solid offering, particularly for adults and teens seeking high-lo novels. --Booklist --Journal

Students at Southside High are dealing with real-life dilemmas, such as pregnancy, military deployment, and football recruitment. Readers are given examples showing that each choice has consequences. This series highlights middle class high school students dealing with issues that hit home today. Different authors tackle different issues, but each novel is similar in style. A likable character is introduced who seems to live an ordinary life. The character then struggles with options. Finally they make the right decisions and leave the reader thinking about each situation. The series is written at a lower level for older students. The topics are interesting and relevant, and present characters readers can empathize with. With each novel being around 100 pages, students who struggle with reading or finding interesting material to read should pick one up. Recommended. --Library Media Connection --Journal Just making it into a triple-digit page count, this is the first entry in the new quick-reading Surviving Southside series. Narrator Lucy is a dancer from a single-parent home, and her boyfriend, Luke, is a baseball player from a successful nuclear household. Their plans for post-high-school happiness are thrown into disarray when Lucy becomes pregnant. How the teens, their friends, and their families deal with the situation forms the heart of this story, in which everyone is surprisingly supportive. After debating between adoption, abortion, and parenthood, Lucy and Luke are still unsure of what to do, and a visit to a doctor's office ends with the words, 'I don't know. Let's go.' The teens' realistic debates and ambivalence will hit home with the target audience. A cover featuring ethnically vague teens, large margins, and rapid pacing likely enhance this book's appeal as a solid offering, particularly for adults and teens seeking high-lo novels. --Booklist --Journal Similar to the 'Bluford' series (Townsend), these high-interest contemporary urban fiction books focus on teenagers trying to navigate adolescence in the midst of difficult situations. After Benito's father is deployed to Iraq, the teen does his best to be the man of the house. When Xavier returns, the family is overjoyed, but soon realize that being a soldier has changed him from the cheerful soccer-playing dad they knew into someone who is fearful, tense, and angry. With the strength of their family bond, they struggle to help him and to regain the closeness and stability they once enjoyed. In Plan B, Lucy's life is perfect; she has a caring mother, great friends, and, best of all, a boyfriend whom she loves. However, after Lucy and Luke make a careless decision, their lives change forever, and she needs to find the right answer for them. In Recruited, Kadeem is ecstatic when scouts shower him with gifts, dinners, and parties and he realizes that his dream of playing college football may be coming true. His happiness quickly turns to dread, though, as he learns that the incentives offered to him are violations of recruitment policy. Given the chance to help stop the unethical behavior, he has to make a heartfelt decision. These well-written stories reinforce the importance of family, friends, values, and thoughtful decision-making. Characters that readers will identify with and care about are combined with realistic plots that reflect society today. Excellent purchases, these books will attract and engage reluctant readers. --School Library Journal --Journal

Similar to the 'Bluford' series (Townsend), these high-interest contemporary urban fiction books focus on teenagers trying to navigate adolescence in the midst of difficult situations. After Benito's father is deployed to Iraq, the teen does his best to be the man of the house. When Xavier returns, the family is overjoyed, but soon realize that being a soldier has changed him from the cheerful soccer-playing dad they knew into someone who is fearful, tense, and angry. With the strength of their family bond, they struggle to help him and to regain the closeness and stability they once enjoyed. In Plan B, Lucy's life is perfect; she has a caring mother, great friends, and, best of all, a boyfriend whom she loves. However, after Lucy and Luke make a careless decision, their lives change forever, and she needs to find the right answer for them. In Recruited, Kadeem is ecstatic when scouts shower him with gifts, dinners, and parties and he realizes that his dream of playing college football may be coming true. His happiness quickly turns to dread, though, as he learns that the incentives offered to him are violations of recruitment policy. Given the chance to help stop the unethical behavior, he has to make a heartfelt decision. These well-written stories reinforce the importance of family, friends, values, and thoughtful decision-making. Characters that readers will identify with and care about are combined with realistic plots that reflect society today. Excellent purchases, these books will attract and engage reluctant readers. --School Library Journal --Journal Students at Southside High are dealing with real-life dilemmas, such as pregnancy, military deployment, and football recruitment. Readers are given examples showing that each choice has consequences. This series highlights middle class high school students dealing with issues that hit home today. Different authors tackle different issues, but each novel is similar in style. A likable character is introduced who seems to live an ordinary life. The character then struggles with options. Finally they make the right decisions and leave the reader thinking about each situation. The series is written at a lower level for older students. The topics are interesting and relevant, and present characters readers can empathize with. With each novel being around 100 pages, students who struggle with reading or finding interesting material to read should pick one up. Recommended. --Library Media Connection --Journal Just making it into a triple-digit page count, this is the first entry in the new quick-reading Surviving Southside series. Narrator Lucy is a dancer from a single-parent home, and her boyfriend, Luke, is a baseball player from a successful nuclear household. Their plans for post-high-school happiness are thrown into disarray when Lucy becomes pregnant. How the teens, their friends, and their families deal with the situation forms the heart of this story, in which everyone is surprisingly supportive. After debating between adoption, abortion, and parenthood, Lucy and Luke are still unsure of what to do, and a visit to a doctor's office ends with the words, 'I don't know. Let's go.' The teens' realistic debates and ambivalence will hit home with the target audience. A cover featuring ethnically vague teens, large margins, and rapid pacing likely enhance this book's appeal as a solid offering, particularly for adults and teens seeking high-lo novels. --Booklist --Journal

Author Information

Charnan Simon lives in Seattle, Washington, and has written more than one hundred books for young readers. Her two daughters are mostly grown-up, and she misses having teenagers running in and out of the house.

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