Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Even so, the author should be commended for taking on a tricky topic, the demands, delights, and difficulties of being young, single, and a dad. A disconcerting resolution mars the piece, negating much of the action that came before it and leaving the unprepared reader unsettled and dissatisfied.

The protagonist, who lives at home with his equally inexpressive father, is nicely foiled by two classmates, both teenage mothers, who help round out the situation and demonstrate the various experiences of young parenthood. While many young adults in his situation are truly caught between a rock and a hard place, some of the obstacles Sam faces feel manufactured, giving the reader the sense that they could be ameliorated if he would just open his mouth and ask for assistance. Told in the first person by a youngster who has powerful feelings he has trouble expressing, the narrative neatly lays out Sam’s dilemma-how to be a good father without completely sacrificing his dreams for the future. But in a nice change of pace, Bechard’s protagonist is that unusual breed of kid, an unwed father with sole custody of his infant son. As she did in If It Doesn’t Kill You (1999)-which was about an adolescent boy dealing with his father’s homosexuality-Bechard again takes on a challenging issue: teenage parenthood. A high-school senior copes with the challenges of taking care of a baby while trying to get a diploma and maintain a social life.

Hanging on to max by margaret bechard