Review: Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky

Susan Tate, high school principal, confronts a devastating secret. Her seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily, has revealed that she is expecting a baby – and this is not an accidental pregnancy. Susan soon learns that some of Lily’s friends are pregnant, too: they’ve made a pact to become moms in high school, intentionally having unprotected sex. Naive but determined, they yearn to raise their babies on their own, and to keep the fathers away for as long as possible. For Susan, the news threatens to destroy her career. Once a teen mom herself, she has launched high-profile campaigns to educate students about preventing pregnancy. Then Lily makes a frightening discovery about the baby she is carrying, and she and Susan begin to see their futures in a new way.

Delinsky has written another great story and one every mom of a daughter should read. If I could have ignored the rest of my responsibilities I would have read the book in one sitting, but instead I fed my family, cleaned the house, and read it every spare moment I had. I could identify with so many of the characters in the book for various reasons: Susan and her difficult relationship with her parents and sibling, Pam, feeling like an “outsider” of the group, and Abby as she struggles with her secret. (I don’t want to give anything away). There were many tears shed during this book. As I was reading it, my thoughts and feelings would appear in the following paragraph or chapter. I became deeply interested in the characters in this story. I appreciated how the author brought in so many ripple effects to the story; not just the girls and their families, but how their choices affected jobs, the community, and the school board. Our community has had difficulties with a school board much like one in the book and Delinsky portrayed the true power certain members can have on a whole community. Throughout the story I frequently asked myself how I would have reacted and several times I had to check myself and be honest about my feelings. This would be an EXCELLENT discussion book for a book club. As a former teen daughter and a current mom of a daughter, it definately gave me something to think about in regards to how I want to discuss choices with my daughter. I gave this 5 out of 5 stars! Another Delinsky hit!