Hanging on to Max

Publishers Weekly

A 17-year-old unwed father struggles to juggle his responsibilities as a parent and student. "The teen's conflicted perceptions of his role as father, friend and son are intermittently droll and wrenching," wrote PW. Ages 12-up. (Dec.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

VOYA

This short novel examines teen parenthood and how its responsibilities can interfere with students' lives. The twist in this story is that the parent is a boy. Sam is a basketball star with plans to go to college, but a fling with his girlfriend changes everything. Holding his newborn in the hospital, Sam knows he cannot give up his son, although his girlfriend has already decided to do so. With help from his father and aunt, he begins the life of a struggling single parent, attending an alternative school while losing his friends and lots of sleep. Sam faces sexism as the only male in the program and fights daily fatigue. Only a chance to take the SATs and a budding relationship with a young mother in similar straits keep him going. He promised to get a construction job when he graduated to help his father with expenses, but his scores encourage him to consider college. Baby Max is almost a year old and consumes the bulk of Sam's time and money. His girlfriend and her baby could become his new family—albeit one with many financial difficulties. He could choose a future that selfishly would include only himself. Sam's surprising decision involves a gut-wrenching look at his priorities. This book is a quick, easy read that touches upon many real-life issues. Some characters are a little underdeveloped and might be too good to be true, but the story will make the reader think, "What would I do?" PLB
— Kevin Beach <%ISBN%>0761315799

KLIATT

To quote from the review in KLIATT, May 2002: This is a poignant story of a 17-year-old who wants to raise his baby son when the mother says she will give the baby up for adoption. With the help of his dour father and helpful aunt (Sam's mother is dead), Sam gets through almost a year with Max, his son. He had promised his father to "take responsibility," giving up his social life, sports, and plans to go to college. This novel tells about how Sam's life unravels in his senior year. Part of the catalyst comes when a teacher helps him prepare for the SATs and he studies with another teenage parent, Claire. The two teenagers get close and it seems like it could be easy to team up and become a family, raising their two babies together. A night out being "normal" teenagers, playing ball in the driveway, fixing a meal, ends in an accident and a trip to take Max to the emergency room. Although this isn't ultimately too traumatic, it proves to Sam that he has to rethink his decisions about being a father. Readers may not quite understand all of Sam's reasoning. It looks as though the plot is heading in one direction, but it veers sharply after this trip to the hospital. A final chapter, when Max becomes 18, helps us realize that Sam's ultimate decision is a wise one for himself and for his baby son. I'm not positive about the statistics, but would imagine that for cultural reasons, being a teenage father happens less frequently with white middle-class teenagers, because so frequently abortion is the option for teenage pregnancy in that group. Sam is white and middle-class; he would have been heading for college and a promising future, given his academic skills. Still, the story could work as acautionary tale (and it is a good story in itself) about the difficulties of parenting. (An ALA Best Book for YAs; ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.) KLIATT Codes: JS*-Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2002, Simon & Schuster, 204p., Ages 12 to 18.
— Claire Rosser

From The Critics

Sam fell in love with Max at first sight. And when Brittany admits the "mother thing" is not for her, Sam becomes custodial parent. At seventeen, it means that Sam must give up all his plans for his high school senior year and beyond: football, college and becoming a computer engineer. At his alternative high school, Sam is the only male single parent. And so he wonders: Is he right on course? Sam's father, a single parent himself (Sam's mother died when he was eleven), offers to help Sam finish high school and arranges for a job in construction afterwards. College is not in Sam's plans. Parenting, as Sam learns, is not easy, and every day brings another challenge to keep Sam from achieving success. Slowly, Sam realizes that his own life — now with child in tow — will never be the same. An easy read filled with practical wisdom, this book is highly recommended as an important edition for any adolescent classroom collection. 2002, Roaring Brook Press, 160 pp., Anne Webb

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-Sam Pettigrew has transferred from his old high school to an alternative school for a very good reason. When his girlfriend wants to give their baby up for adoption, the 17-year-old assumes the role of custodial single parent of his son, Max. The story begins with Sam in his new role as father and moves back and forth between his current troubles and his earlier ones: the death of his mother, his emotionally distant father, and his peer relationships. Sam's world is generally a supportive one, full of friends, teachers, and family. However, he and his father made a deal; if Sam graduates and then goes on to work a construction job, he'll support Sam and Max for one year. There will be no college in Sam's future, even with his great SAT scores. The young man has taken responsibility for himself and his actions. However, he is still an ordinary teenager trying his hardest to do the right thing, the best thing for the tiny, much-loved son that transformed his life and possibly his future. As Bechard deftly shows, the choices made in small ordinary moments are as important as the big "turning points" in determining the course of a life. In a world where much of YA literature is fraught with "noir" plots peopled with dysfunctional characters caught in tragic situations, Hanging on to Max is a breath of fresh air. Bechard has written a poignant winner of a book peopled with human beings all struggling to make their lives work. And she has created in Sam an unforgettable and realistic protagonist full of heart and guts.-Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, IL Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. A disconcerting resolution mars the piece, negating much of the action that came before it and leaving the unprepared reader unsettled and dissatisfied. 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. (Fiction. 12+)