Dear One, The — Content Guide for Parents

Product Description Twelve-year-old Feni doesn't see why her mother, who is already way too busy with her job, offers to take in her old college friend's fifteen-year-old daughter. Sure enough, sparks fly when Rebecca, a street-smart girl from Harlem, comes to spend the last months of her pregnancy in Feni's suburban home. As the weeks pass, tension grows in the household. Can Feni, her mother, Rebecca, and their friends draw together in time to help Rebecca decide what is best for herself, and for her baby?From the Paperback edition. From Publishers Weekly Feni's visitor Rebecca, 15, comes from Harlem, is pregnant and is sleeping in Feni's room. It's almost too much for the 12-year-old to bear: she sees little enough of her corporate-executive mother without having to entertain her friend's daughter. Feni is determined to dislike Rebecca--until she realizes that the older girl's toughness is just a facade that hides a strong, nurturing young woman. When Rebecca's baby is born and she prepares to leave, Feni is faced with the unexpected prospect of losing her new friend. Peopled with strong African American female characters, this paradigm for understanding between social groups is written in a warm, rich style that creates an immediate intimacy with the players and issues. Woodson's deep understanding of and concern for the role of black women in society is evident as she eloquently introduces the reader to teenage pregnancy, alternate lifestyles and adoption in her moving, powerful story. Ages 12-up. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews Second-novelist Woodson (the well-received Last Summer with Maison, 1990) gives thoughtful consideration to the impact of a pregnant teenager on the 12-year-old daughter of a friend who takes her in. Afeni (Swahili for ``Dear One'') is still coping with her grandmother's death and her parents' divorce when her mother invites Rebecca, 15, daughter of a childhood friend who now lives in Harlem, to share their suburban home until her baby is born. Rebecca finds it as hard to deal with a group of caring women (which includes recovering alcoholics and a lesbian couple) as Afeni does to share her room with a stranger whose concerns are her boyfriend and the baby she's about to give up. Still, in their time together the two form a bond that enables each to grow in understanding and love. Minimal plot, but the characterizations are rich, warm, and memorable; Woodson draws a frank, realistic picture of a community of African-American women who thrive while bravely confronting a myriad of problems and life situations. Though the writing is occasionally a little slapdash, this is a strong, original, and life-affirming book. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. From the Inside Flap Twelve-year-old Feni doesn't see why her mother, who is already way too busy with her job, offers to take in her old college friend's fifteen-year-old daughter. Sure enough, sparks fly when Rebecca, a street-smart girl from Harlem, comes to spend the last months of her pregnancy in Feni's suburban home. As the weeks pass, tension grows in the household. Can Feni, her mother, Rebecca, and their friends draw together in time to help Rebecca decide what is best for herself, and for her baby?From the Paperback edition.