"Heartbreaking story of a schoolgirl’s hidden pregnancy."
October 2024 Book of the Month
This undoubtedly hard hitting and harrowing novel is about so much more than teenage pregnancy, although the book indeed opens with a shockingly visceral description of a teenager giving birth in a classroom. It confronts issues of toxic masculinity, sexist victim blaming, toxic social media, the importance of female friendship, broken families and overwhelmingly how young people can be failed by the lack of professional support whether offered to adolescent mothers or to those with mental health problems.
Louisa Reid is already well known for her verse novels, but here the story of best friends Ashley and Ruby is told in a brilliant mixture of poetry and prose. Ashley’s prose gives us the context and descriptive detail and the verse immerses us in Ruby’s emotional state and combined they make a compelling and unputdownable narrative. Ruby’s agonising pain, fear and confusion contrasts with Ashley calmly taking control, recognising what is happening to her friend, having witnessed her own mother giving birth.
The obviously shocked and traumatised Ruby cannot defy her mother’s cold insistence that she must give up the baby to concentrate on the bright future that she believes her academic high achieving daughter should have. Unlike Ashley, Ruby has no faith or loving family to support her, but Ashley struggles to understand how she could give away her baby and when the truth about the father comes out, things become even more complicated and Ruby becomes ever more isolated and her mental health inexorably deteriorates.
This is a beautifully crafted, authentic and incredibly powerful account of how systems and society failed Ruby and a heartbreaking portrayal of maternal love. It should make young people really think about the power that their words and actions can have and to think about why society still seems to blame and shame teenage mothers.
A stunningly powerful YA novel from a master storyteller told in both prose and verse. Suitable for 14+
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A stunningly powerful YA novel from a master storyteller told in both prose and verse. Suitable for 14+No one knows Ruby is pregnant - not even Ruby herself.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Handle with Care and determined it is suitable for children aged 13-18 years old
Handle with Care features in the following genres: Featured Books for 13+ readers, Featured Books for Young Adults, Books of the Month, Recommendations, School Stories, Stories in Verse, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
Paperback. £8.09, down from the £8.99 cover price. In Stock.
Handle with Care was written by Louisa Reid and published by Guppy Publishing Ltd
Handle with Care has 397 pages
£8.09, reduced from £8.99. In Stock.
