Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

This story is ripped right from the headlines. The author, however, brings the reader to the behind-the-scenes action from the start.

Four high-achieving high school girls get it into their minds to form a pact to get pregnant. They want to do this on their own with little or no interaction from the biological fathers in regard to bringing up the babies.

What starts out as a basic premise ends up recognizing that we seldom do anything exclusively. That is to say without impacting others in our immediate vicinity. Ms. Delinsky does look more closely at the interaction between mothers and daughters, particularly Lily and Susan (who happens to be the high school principal). My thoughts were she might have delved a bit deeper into the relationships of the other characters and the fathers of the babies.

This is an interesting foray into a contemporary topic and certainly one that bears re-examination. Good fodder for book discussions.

Ladybookbug!