16 & PREGNANT

Two high school friends in Nevada face tough decisions when one of them discovers she’s pregnant.

Since learning she’s pregnant, 16-year-old Erykah Smith has been having the worst birthday of her life. Instead of worrying about college test scores and getting her driver’s license, she’s going to be battling morning sickness and the judgment of her peers. At least she has her best friend, Kelaya Lancaster. The two Black girls come from totally different neighborhoods of Lynwood Heights—Erykah’s low-income projects and Kelly’s affluent enclave—but until now their friendship trumped any differences between them. Kelly, who aspires to be valedictorian and play basketball in the WNBA, has a wonderful boyfriend, Ray, who is quite unlike Erykah’s unreliable boyfriend, Miguel. Kelly knows her friend needs her support, especially after Erykah decides to lie to her mom about what she plans to do about the pregnancy. But Kelly is also focused on her own goals, and the girls’ friendship is pushed to its limits as they try to juggle the truths, the lies, and their dreams for the future. Thomas’ characters are so real readers will feel like they’re part of the text conversations that are scattered throughout the novel. Deftly woven into each girl’s story are hard-hitting facts about teen pregnancy and Black maternity issues. Far from being a judgmental cautionary tale, the work treats Erykah’s circumstances with care, offering a true representation of the right to choose, despite the odds.

An empowering, relatable read.