A Small Madness

April 1, 2016
High school couple Rose and Michael deal with the devastating consequences of her insistence that an unexpected pregnancy simply isn't real in this Australian import. Seniors Rose and Michael love each other and decide to have sex for the first time, but they forget to use protection--twice. Two months later, student thespian Rose starts feeling nauseated and enlists her much more experienced best friend, Liv, to buy her a pregnancy test. Despite the positive result, Rose deludes herself and eventually Michael into thinking she's not really pregnant after all. As weeks tick by, Rose stops eating and refuses to speak to Liv or to even say the words "pregnant" or "baby." "I've worked it out. We don't tell anyone. No one could help us anyway. I can hide it. It's not real....These things go away all the time." By weaving in the perspectives of not only Rose and Michael, but occasionally Liv, Rose's clueless mum, and Michael's older brother, the author creates a believable and heartbreaking picture of how two smart, middle-class teens could make such ill-conceived decisions. Part cautionary tale, part exploration of the madness bred by desperation, this is a difficult but powerful narrative inspired by a true story. Although it ends in frustrating ambiguity, the story is riveting enough to read in one sitting. Told with compassion and empathy, a conversation-starting look at the dangers of keeping a pregnancy secret. (Fiction. 14-18)

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May 1, 2016

Gr 10 Up-Seventeen-year-olds Rose and Michael are two kids in love. Shortly after becoming sexually active, however, Rose discovers she is pregnant. This news sends both of the teens into a tailspin, with Rose choosing denial and Michael isolating himself and developing rage-filled fantasies. When they can no longer ignore reality, they make a decision that has much stronger consequences for their futures. Unfortunately, an interesting story is overtaken by shallow characterization, teen voices that do not ring true, and needless and sometimes digressive point-of-view changes. Readers know only token things about the protagonists beyond the pregnancy, to the point where it is unclear whether Rose has an intellectual disability or is simply an unbelievably naive 17-year-old. This work reads like a dated Beatrice Sparks-style cautionary tale where teen sex has the worst consequences imaginable and no male character misses a chance to label a girl a slut. Despite a frustrating lack of detail at the book's crucial moment, the omniscient narrator's description is frequently substituted for elements that should be shown through characters' actions.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Rose has a virus in her. It started sometime after she and Michael first had sex. Sixty-one days following her missed period, Rose and her bold best friend, Liv, buy a pregnancy test from the local pharmacy. When the dreaded double lines appear, Rose is left reeling; between their stifling homelives, rapidly approaching college entrance exams, and supposedly promising futures, Michael, Rose, and Liv struggle to keep the staggering secret to themselves. As the trio all but sever ties with one another, Rose is enveloped in sheer melancholy. A web search for miscarriage or spontaneous abortion has her popping anti-inflammatory drugs, chain-smoking cigarettes, and starving herself. And though her distinct weight loss, unwashed hair, and withdrawal from school and friendships are hardly unnoticed, they are, more or less, ignored. That is, until one monumental action garners Rose and Michael more attention than they could've imagined. Taut family dynamics, crippled relationships, and oppressive insecurities are depicted with painfully palpable candor. Rife with secrets and impossible burdens, this is a striking story about the mistakes we make, the stigmas we face, and the intangible redemption that comes with honesty. Tender, terse, and utterly unforgettable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)