Author: Gaby RodriguezRelease Date: January 17, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Dates Read:July 3 - 6, 3012
How Acquired: Borrowed from the library
Description: Growing up, Gaby Rodriguez was often told she would end up a teen mom. After all, her mother and her older sisters had gotten pregnant as teenagers; from an outsider’s perspective, it was practically a family tradition. Gaby had ambitions that didn’t include teen motherhood. But she wondered: how would she be treated if she “lived down” to others' expectations? Would everyone ignore the years she put into being a good student and see her as just another pregnant teen statistic with no future? These questions sparked Gaby’s school project: faking her own pregnancy as a high school senior to see how her family, friends, and community would react. What she learned changed her life forever, and made international headlines in the process.
In The Pregnancy Project, Gaby details how she was able to fake her own pregnancy—hiding the truth from even her siblings and boyfriend’s parents—and reveals all that she learned from the experience. But more than that, Gaby’s story is about fighting stereotypes, and how one girl found the strength to come out from the shadow of low expectations to forge a bright future for herself. (Taken from Goodreads.com)
My Review: As you may have noticed, I don't normally read a whole lot of non-fiction books. I'm not exactly sure what it was about this one that caught my eye, but it just looked like an interesting story. And it was. Nearly everyone in Gaby's family became a parent at an early age. Gaby made the choice to do well in school and overcome the stereotype that many people in her community had placed on her. As her senior project, Gaby pretended to be pregnant (telling only her boyfriend, her mother, one friend and one sister the truth) in order to get inside information on how it feels to be a pregnant teen and hear the things that people say about pregnant teens. Gaby took this experience and turned it into a lesson for many. When teens get pregnant, other people say things like "she's ruined her life" and "now she won't be able to finish school." And when those pregnant teens hear these things over and over again, they begin to believe them. While teen pregnancy is not something anyone should strive for, as human beings we need to be supportive of individuals in that situation. If you hear something enough times, you start to believe it and that is what happens with many teen moms. They hear people say that their lives are over and then they begin to believe it and quit trying. Gaby's project made a huge impact in her town and she even went on to be on The Today Show. I think the book was quite interesting and I think Gaby is such a strong young woman to have conquered this goal and shed light on this subject.
My Rating: I liked it
My Review: As you may have noticed, I don't normally read a whole lot of non-fiction books. I'm not exactly sure what it was about this one that caught my eye, but it just looked like an interesting story. And it was. Nearly everyone in Gaby's family became a parent at an early age. Gaby made the choice to do well in school and overcome the stereotype that many people in her community had placed on her. As her senior project, Gaby pretended to be pregnant (telling only her boyfriend, her mother, one friend and one sister the truth) in order to get inside information on how it feels to be a pregnant teen and hear the things that people say about pregnant teens. Gaby took this experience and turned it into a lesson for many. When teens get pregnant, other people say things like "she's ruined her life" and "now she won't be able to finish school." And when those pregnant teens hear these things over and over again, they begin to believe them. While teen pregnancy is not something anyone should strive for, as human beings we need to be supportive of individuals in that situation. If you hear something enough times, you start to believe it and that is what happens with many teen moms. They hear people say that their lives are over and then they begin to believe it and quit trying. Gaby's project made a huge impact in her town and she even went on to be on The Today Show. I think the book was quite interesting and I think Gaby is such a strong young woman to have conquered this goal and shed light on this subject.
My Rating: I liked it
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