THE FIRST PART LAST by Angela Johnson

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Johnson, Angela. 2005. THE FIRST PART LAST. New York: Simon Pulse. ISBN 0689849222

B. PLOT SUMMARY
Bobby’s girlfriend Nia is pregnant. She tells him on his sixteenth birthday. This book tells mostly Bobby’s story; his journey to fatherhood as only a sixteen year old boy can travel, from finding out Nia is pregnant to the reality of a baby. The story includes telling both sets of parents, difficult decisions, birth, and the acceptance of a new way of life.

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Using an urban setting Johnson weaves a teen pregnancy story with hard facts and harder feelings. Johnson uses short “then and now” chapters in telling Bobby’s story. Although Bobby and Nia have made a mistake they take responsible steps to deal with it. Following the telling of both sets of parents, there is prenatal care and discussions about their options. Alternating the story between caring for his daughter, Feather, and life before her birth keeps the reader anticipating the next page. The constant care an infant requires keeps those chapters filled with a level of anxiety that is relieved by the “then” chapters where the reality is only knocking on the door. Bobby’s decision to keep Feather is a mature and demanding one, however this does not prevent him from making other bad choices such as skipping school (not intentionally) and getting arrested for spray painting a wall. Typical teen behavior is apparent throughout the book; hanging out with his friends K-Boy and J.L., listening to music, and eating junk food. Johnson creates a strong character in Bobby with his continuous effort to do what is right. Johnson does a good job at showing perfection is not necessary, but persistence is.
Cultural markers show up throughout the book. Johnson describes the skin color of K-Boy as mahogany and Feather’s skin is caramel colored. Music is another marker seen in the book. Reference is made to the jazz, Motown, and reggae that play constantly in Bobby’s home. Although Bobby’s divorced parents react and act differently to the pregnancy both show strong support of him as do his older brothers.
Johnson has taken a common problem among teens and written a book that deals with the resulting reality while managing to wrap it all up in hope. The ending of this book deals Bobby yet another hurdle to cross, which he manages to do with grace and some amount of optimism.

D. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Booklist starred (September 1, 2003 (Vol. 100, No. 1))
Gr. 6-12. Bobby, the teenage artist and single-parent dad in Johnson's Coretta Scott King Award winner, Heaven (1998), tells his story here. At 16, he's scared to be raising his baby, Feather, but he's totally devoted to caring for her, even as she keeps him up all night, and he knows that his college plans are on hold. In short chapters alternating between "now"and "then,"he talks about the baby that now fills his life, and he remembers the pregnancy of his beloved girlfriend, Nia. Yes, the teens'parents were right. The couple should have used birth control; adoption could have meant freedom. But when Nia suffers irreversible postpartum brain damage, Bobby takes their newborn baby home. There's no romanticizing. The exhaustion is real, and Bobby gets in trouble with the police and nearly messes up everything. But from the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again. The great cover photo shows the strong African American teen holding his tiny baby in his arms.

Horn Book starred (Fall 2003)
Sixteen-year-old Bobby and his girlfriend, Nia, had planned to put their baby, Feather, up for adoption, but Feather becomes impossible to relinquish after, as the reader learns at book's end, pregnancy-related eclampsia leaves Nia in an irreversible coma. What resonate in this prequel to the Coretta Scott King Award-winning Heaven are the sacrifices Bobby makes for Feather's sake.

Kirkus Review (June 1, 2003)
"The rules: If she hollers, she is mine. If she needs to be changed, she is always mine. In the dictionary next to 'sitter,' there is not a picture of Grandma. It's time to grow up. Too late, you're out of time. Be a grown-up." Sixteen-year-old Bobby has met the love of his life: his daughter. Told in alternating chapters that take place "then" and "now," Bobby relates the hour-by-hour tribulations and joys of caring for a newborn, and the circumstances that got him there. Managing to cope with support, but little help, from his single mother (who wants to make sure he does this on his own), Bobby struggles to maintain friendships and a school career while giving his daughter the love and care she craves from him at every moment. By narrating from a realistic first-person voice, Johnson manages to convey a story that is always complex, never preachy. The somewhat pat ending doesn't diminish the impact of this short, involving story. It's the tale of one young man and his choices, which many young readers will appreciate and enjoy. (Fiction. YA)

E. CONNECTIONS
Students could choose different parts of the story, discovering pregnancy, telling family, decision to give the baby up for adoption, Bobby’s arrest, or the ending and rewrite it from a personal point of view. What decisions would they make or how would their family react?

Other books on teen pregnancy:
Evans, Mari. “I’M LATE’: THE STORY OF LANEESE & MOONLIGHT AND ALISHA WHO DIDN’T HAVE ANYONE OF HER OWN. ISBN 1933491000
Reynolds, Marilyn. DETOUR FOR EMMY. ISBN 0930934768
Velasquez, Gloria. TEEN ANGEL. ISBN 155885391X