What They Don't Know

July 15, 2018
A teenage girl struggles with the decision to end the pregnancy that resulted from her rape while desperately trying to keep the abortion a secret from her conservative Christian family.Mellie Rivers is the kind of girl who would never have sex before marriage: She wears a chastity ring and follows the rules set for her family of eight by her conservative father. He's the town's mayor and is mounting a state Senate campaign based on Christian family values. Mellie's world bottoms out after she is raped and becomes pregnant, unable to tell her family about the assault for a multitude of reasons, not least of which is her assailant's relationship to her family and her internal dilemma regarding her limited choices. A classmate, Lise, notices her struggling and offers Mellie a lifeline and a support system as she navigates her options. Mellie's pregnancy and decision to abort take center stage over the trauma of her rape, which is brushed aside for more immediate concerns. The girls' perspectives are related via journal entries which they write for a class assignment, a heavy-handed device that does not lend itself to organic development for either character or for the religious families, who are generally painted with a wide, unsympathetic brush. The book assumes a white default.A heavily message-driven novel that pits the anti-abortion camp against the abortion-rights camp in no uncertain terms. (author's note, resources) (Fiction. 14-18)

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September 15, 2018
Grades 9-12 Sixteen-year-old Mellie is the ideal daughter for her conservative, religious family. But her perfect life changes one afternoon when she is raped in her own home. Too afraid to tell anyone, Mellie silently watches the waistband on her jeans grow tighter, convinced her pro-life parents would sentence her to having her rapist's baby. Lise, Mellie's classmate and former childhood friend, is an activist and works as an escort and shield for women against the constant group of protesters at the local women's clinic. When Lise figures out Mellie's situation, she takes steps to help her friend at the risk of revealing her own secret. Told predominantly through the girls' journals, the story lays bare their fears, joys, anxieties, and victories in their distinct voices. Despite discussing options pertaining to teen and unwanted pregnancies, the book neither preaches nor condemns. Instead, the girls' viewpoints and beliefs offer an engaging, emotional debate on rape and abortion. Hand to readers interested in hot-button social issues or those captivated by E. K. Johnston's Exit, Pursued by a Bear (2016).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)