Don't Think Twice » (REV)

Ruth Pennebaker has written two other popular books for teenagers, Conditions of Love and Both Sides Now. A columnist for The Dallas Morning News, she lives with her husband and teenage children in Austin, Texas.

"During the summer of 1967, Anne Harper, 17, enters a home for pregnant teens.... This powerful novel will be enlightening reading for any young woman today." —School Library Journal, starred review

Publishers Weekly

Set in 1967, before the legalization of abortion, this insightful story presents an engrossing, grimly realistic depiction of pregnant teens who have been ostracized by their families and rejected by their lovers. Upon her arrival at a Texas home for unwed mothers, 17-year-old Anne is sure that the next few months will be as dismal as the shabby interior of her new living quarters. Among strangers with backgrounds vastly different from her own middle-class experiences, however, Anne gradually begins to feel more accepted and acceptable than at home with her judgmental parents. She finds the freedom to analyze her mistakes as she plans for the future. The tone of this reflective and sometimes wrenching first novel could easily become oppressive if not for the protagonist's astute, often witty appraisals of housemates, also struggling to rebuild their lives. Without moralizing, Pennebaker conveys a pointed message about social hypocrisies, family relationships and desperate attempts to find love. Ages 13-18. (Apr.)