Hanging on to Max by Margaret Bechard

Year Published: 2002
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
ISBN: 9780761315797
Pages: 142
Personal Rating:3
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Drama
Interest Level: 9-12
Reading Level: 5
Rating: 3
Subjects: Teenage parents, Teenage fathers, Father-son relationship

Reader's Annotation: What if your girlfriend decides to give your baby away, will you raise the baby alone?

Summary: At 17, Sam Pettigrew has an unusual responsibility - his baby son, Max. Sam and Max live with Sam's father. Sam attends a high school with on-site childcare and watches Max in his school hours. Sam's father will support Sam and Max until Sam finishes high school. After that, Sam must work for a construction company owned by family friend. Although Sam is a good student, the idea of college angers his father, who sees it as an abrogation of Sam's responsibility. When Sam meets old friend, Claire, also a teen parent, he begins to emerge from the social exile he's felt since taking on Max, and he discovers a home situation more supportive than his own. Eventually, Sam makes some important decisions about the future, which angers Claire but allow others to move beyond the past.


Evaluation: This book is unusual because you will find a boy in the teen single-parent role. This story is both realistic and perceptive. The characters are well-thought out and speaks truthfully about what teens go through. There are explicit and graphic sex scenes that may not be suitable for some teenagers.