Review: Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles

Title: Jumping Off Swings
Author: Jo Knowles
Publisher: Candlewick
Pages: 240
Rating: 4.5/5

One pregnancy. Four friends. It all adds up to a profound time of change in this poignant, sensitively written YA novel.

Ellie remembers how the boys kissed her. Touched her. How they
begged for more. And when she gave it to them, she felt loved. For a
while anyway. So when Josh, an eager virgin with a troubled home life, leads her from a party to the backseat of his van, Ellie follows. But their "one-time thing" is far from perfect: Ellie gets pregnant. Josh reacts with shame and heartbreak, while their confidantes, Caleb and Corinne, deal with their own complex swirl of emotions. No matter what Ellie chooses, all four teenagers will be forced to grow up a little faster as a result. Told alternately from each character’s point of view, this deeply insightful novel explores the aftershocks of the biggest decision of one fragile girl’s life — and the realities of leaving innocence behind.

My review:

This is your typical teen pregnancy book, but in ways more than one, it's totally different in a good way. Told by Ellie, Josh- the father, Caleb, and Corrine the views change. And with that, you got to see how the pregnancy actually effected the people around her. I found Josh's a tad heartbreaking; you can see the struggle that he actually wants to keep it but knows he has no choice and can't. I'm sure I got choked towards the end of his view, but didn't cry. The plot was fast paced. She was pregnat one chapter, then five or six chapters later she has the kid. Too fast, but that's my only negeative with this book. Overall this is a great, heartbreaking, and just normal. Does that make sense?