This unusual twist on the adolescent pregnancy novel focuses on the role a teenage boy plays in his infant son’s early life. A senior, Sam has left his traditional high school to attend an alternative school designed to help “at-risk” kids graduate, including those who are raising children of their own. Max is eleven months old, and Sam drops him off at an on-site daycare each morning when he arrives at school. The rest of the young parents are mothers, and Sam is the uncomfortable recipient of attention as the lone father participating in the program. Throughout the book Sam struggles with the overwhelming burdens of caring for an infant while finding his own future options have narrowed to a single track: a construction job immediately following graduation, so he can earn the money to pay back the expenses his parenthood has entailed. Meanwhile, flashbacks tell of Sam’s relationship with Brittany, her unplanned pregnancy, and her decision to give the baby up for adoption shortly after his birth. Sam’s feeling of connection to his newborn son lead to his struggle to raise him, with the reluctant consent of his own emotionally distant father. The appearance of Claire, a girl whom Sam has admired from afar for years, with a baby of her own both enriches and complicates Sam’s already difficult life. The author does an admirable job of portraying both Sam’s deep love for Max, as well as his desperation at being caught in a bind that only grows tighter over time. Sam’s emotional agony when deciding whether to keep Max or put him up for adoption is heartfelt and riveting. (Age 13 and older)