Review: THE FIRST PART LAST, Genre 6, Fiction, Fantasy, and YA

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Johnson, Angela. 2003. THE FIRST PART LAST. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689849222 2. PLOT SUMMARY This is the story of a young adolescent boy who becomes a father at the age of sixteen. He considers his options and decides to keep and raise his daughter. He does have some help from his family but he is mostly on his own. 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Characterization The story is told through the eyes of the main character, Bobby. He is revealed through his thoughts and actions. In the beginning of the story he is a typical sixteen year old boy. For his birthday he “skipped school with my running buddies, K-Boy and J.L., and went to Mineo’s for a couple of slices. Hit a matinee and threw as much popcorn at each other as we ate. Then went to the top of the Empire State Building ‘cause I never had before.” Later that night bobby’s girlfriend informs him that she is pregnant and his life changes forever. In this story he is quite responsible. He lives with his parents, but he assumes all care for his daughter, Feather. He wakes with her at night to feed and change her. He takes a long subway ride each day before school in order to drop his daughter off at the daycare in which he attended as an infant and child. He is very responsible, but he is not perfect. One morning is particularly stressful. He is running late and Feather “pukes” on him. Bobby decides that he can not handle the subway on this day and ends up taking his daughter to the downstairs neighbor. This gives him extra time and he uses it to “do some tagging”. He gets caught up in his art, looses track of time, and ends up getting arrested a half day later. The cover of this novel depicts a young black man as Bobby in this story. There is no stereotyping. He is portrayed as an educated, middle class boy. His father owns a restaurant and his mother is a photographer. In the beginning he is a boy who does boyish things. By the end of the story he has matured and is a capable father to his daughter. Plot This is a very moving and interesting story. It is amazing the way in which sixteen year old Bobby cares for his baby. He is gentle, “I lay her on my stomach and breathed her in. My daughter is eleven days old. And that sweet baby smell, the smell of baby shampoo, formula, and my mom’s perfume. It made me cry like I hadn’t since I was a little kid. The story moves from “then” to “now”. The “then” sections tell of the months leading up to the birth of Feather. They focus on Bobby and his girlfriend, Nia, telling family and friends of the pregnancy. Visits to the obstetrician and to a social worker to discuss adoption are also focused on. At one point it seems that the choice for the unborn baby is going to be adoption. “Nia cried. I cried. My dad cried. But we were the only ones. My mom and Nia’s parents looked like they just got released from Oz, and not the one with the yellow brick road. I think Nia’s dad took his first real breath since the first time he found out she was having a baby.” The “now” sections mainly focus on Bobby’s care of his daughter Feather. The mother, Nia, is mysteriously missing from the present. This mystery is solved in the end. The ending is both heart wrenching and fulfilling at the same time. It is both because Nia does not choose to be absent. Her absence is beyond her control. Setting The setting for this story is in the childhood home and neighborhood of the young father, Bobby. The baby and Bobby share childhood places and experiences which help to visualize the young age of Bobby. The pediatrician’s office is one example, “I hold my baby in a waiting room that I used to sit in, way before I had her. The nurse is the same one that has been smiling at me since my mom used to carry me in on her hip…I remember sitting here with Mary when I had a fever, needed to get stitches out, had to get a booster shot, fell into some poison ivy on vacation, and about a thousand other things that my pediatrician, Dr. Victor, took care of. Now I’m sharing her with my daughter ‘cause I can still technically have a kid doctor for myself, even if I’m now technically a parent.” Theme The theme of this realistic fiction novel is accepting responsibility and doing the right thing, whatever that may be. This novel will be very interesting to young adolescents. It will give them insight as to what true responsibility is and what must be sacrificed because of ones actions and choices. Style The style of this book helps the reader to really see and feel what Bobby is seeing and feeling. The story is told through his speech and thoughts. The reader is able to put him/her self into his shoes. The style enables the reader to be truly be moved by the circumstances. 4. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS The Michael Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature U.S. News and World Report –“Johnson has carved a niche writing realistically about young people's issues.”School Library Journal - starred review, “Brief, poetic, and absolutely riveting.”Publishers Weekly - starred review, “Readers will only clamor for more.”Booklist – “Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again.” 5. CONNECTIONS *Read HANGING ON TO MAX, by Margaret Bechard, ISBN # 0340883707, for another novel about the struggles of a male teen parent. *Other books by Angela Johnson, the 2000 Corretta Scott King award – winning HEAVEN, ISBN # 0689822901, LOOKING FOR RED, # 0689863888, and BIRD, ISBN # 0142405442.