The Girl With a Baby. Sylvia Olsen. Winlaw, BC: Sono Nis, 2003. 203 pp., pbk., $9.95. ISBN 1-55039-142-9. Subject Headings: Teenage pregnancy-Juvenile fiction. Indian teenagers-Juvenile fiction. Teenage mothers-Juvenile fiction. Grades 8-12 / Ages 13-17. Review by Jennifer L. Branch. *** /4

excerpt:

"I want to go for a walk and not have to push a stroller. I want to pass people on the street and not have them look at me funny. I want to go to school and stay there not spend half my time in the daycare. I want to go to parties. I want the guys to look at me like they used to like I'm hot, not like I'm easy."

I kicked my feet and wrestled free from Dawna's grasp. The words hung in the air like they were printed on an overhead projector for too long. I didn't like the sound of them and they hurt coming out, but now I felt relieved. I wasn't finished, by the next words were painless. "

I had plans, Dawna." I wiped my eyes. "I wasn't going to be like the rest of them. I was going to be a success. I was going to be the girl that sang and danced. I was going to go to university and act in the theatre. I was going to be the Williams that people looked up to. Now I'm just the girl with a baby. The girl who had the baby when she was fourteen and didn't tell anyone she was pregnant. That's all people think about me."

I looked up and saw Teh standing at the door. Her hand was placed firmly on her hip, and although her eyelids folded over the corners of her eyes and her cheeks drooped from lack of sleep, there was no mistaking the stern look on her face. "You're not just the girl with a baby, Jane.

You're not just anything. You're Jane Williams, mother of Destiny Mae Williams. And there's a difference. You're a mother and a teenager and a student and a sister and a granddaughter and a daughter. You're lots of things. We are all lots of things. All those things make us us. Each thing we take on becomes part of us we don't become it."

Jane Williams is the girl with the baby, and she certainly has her hands full. She is a teenager, a student, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a granddaughter, and, on top of that, she wants to play the lead in the school musical. But the musical is Grease, and who would cast a Native teen mother in the role of Sandy?

     This novel tells the story of a Native girl who is trying to deal with the challenges of losing her mother and living in a dysfunctional family all while trying to be a teenage mother in grade 9. The situations and experiences are real ones familiar to teens trying to fit in, friendship, family dynamics, sexuality, and teen pregnancy. The novel also deals with ambition and hard work and being rewarded for talent.

     Most of the characters in this novel are believable - the withdrawn and disengaged father struggling to cope with the loss of his wife, the traditional grandmother trying to keep the family together with wisdom and love, and friends who aren't quite sure how to deal with Jane and her baby. Jane's brothers, depicted as the "misunderstood and mischievous" Native boys, were disappointing and a little predictable.

     However, the story, itself, is a good one, and junior high and high school girls will enjoy it. The author writes from a place of understanding, and this is apparent in the dialogue and issues raised. I think teen mothers would enjoy this story as it certainly provides a true balance between the challenges and successes of being a teen parent.

Recommended.

Jennifer L. Branch is an Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies and the Department of Elementary Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB. She is also the Coordinator of the Teacher-Librarianship by Distance Learning Program.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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