Kids Still Having Kids

Stephanie Zvirin

Though Bode contributes some quick facts and statistics (set off from the rest of the text in boxed insets), her latest book is less about facts than it is about feelings and attitudes. It is also much broader in scope than the subtitle implies, for it touches not only on teenage pregnancy and related issues of abortion and adoption, but also on teenage sex, foster care, and parenting. That breadth is both a weakness and a strength--there's too little about any one thing, yet the book's authentic sounding, uninterrupted interviews with teens (mostly young women) give voice to a few topics, foster care for one, not routinely mentioned in teen parenting/pregnancy materials. The inclusion of a two-page cartoon about a father-to-be really does little other than provide some visual relief, and one teen's story, begun in the first section, "Pregnant," is somewhat awkwardly finished up in the last, "Parents." For balance and insight Bode includes the perspectives of adults who work with teens--among them a nurse, an adoption agency counselor, and a pediatrician--but while what the professionals have to say is of great value, their comments are sometimes lost amid the kids' stronger and more numerous personal profiles. Not as effective as "The Voices of Rape" (1990), which uses the same interview format with more control, this will still garner lots of YA attention.