Dancing Naked

March 15, 2002
Gr. 8-12. A few months before her seventeenth birthday, Kia discovers that she is pregnant and decides that she can't go along with her boyfriend's desire to abort. The story unfolds through an impressive amalgamation of third-person narrative, textbook descriptions of fetal development, and Kia's journal entries and e-mail exchanges with a sympathetic Unitarian youth-group counselor. In addition to following Kia's pregnancy and her decision to give her child to adoptive parents, the book neatly and realistically weaves in subplots involving prejudices against young gay men and relationships between young people and the elderly. There's little in the Canadian setting that will seem strange, except, perhaps, the availability of universal health care and the use of the term " Oriental" (considered politically incorrect here) when referring to Kia's" "Filipina mother. Nor is this a judgmental novel: Kia recognizes that abortion is wrong for her but may be an option for others; Kia's mother reveals that she had an abortion and discusses the circumstances openly with her daughter. The subject matter, plus strong writing and plotting, invites recreational reading; also consider this for curriculum support.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)