Perfect Family »

Jerrie Oughton has written several novels for young adults. Her first, Music From a Place Called Half Moon. was awarded the Bank Street College Children's Book Award. She lives with her husband in Lexington, Kentucky.

Welcome Marie O'Neal is finally starting to enjoy her 15th year and can't wait to turn 16. She meets Nicholas Canton and, though her parents don't approve, the two start dating. Soon Welcome is head over heels in love and she can't believe it won't last forever. But the romance ends with the summer and when things fall apart, Welcome finds herself confused, heartbroken, and...in trouble. There aren't many people Welcome can turn to for help or advice in her small Southern town in 1955, especially not in her "perfect" family. The decisions Welcome has to make will change her life forever.

VOYA

Fifteenyear-old Welcome lives in a small town in North Carolina during the 1950s. Welcome, who dreams of becoming a doctor someday, is just leaving her awkward stage behind. She meets Nicholas Canton, finds herself attracted to him, and clashes with her parents over whether she can see him. Although Nicholas turns out to be a cad, Welcome cannot get over him. When she goes out with the wholesome Randy Newsome, thinking constantly of Nicholas, she has sex with Randyonceand becomes pregnant. After almost going through with a backalley abortion, Welcome decides to have the baby. She leaves town for Virginia to move in with her aunt and uncle who have no children. Ultimately she leaves the baby with them and goes on to follow her dream. Although the ending is predictably neat, Welcome's story is realistic and well written. Her character is engaging, and the supporting characters are well developed. Welcome's parents are understandably dismayed at her predicament, but they do not turn into caricatures. There are enjoyable scenes such as when Welcome becomes friends with Hattie, a black woman she meets on the bus ride to Virginia. A subplot, in which her older sister runs off to California to find James Dean, rings true. This title belongs in most high school and public libraries where older teens will enjoy the accurate portrayal of smalltown life and Welcome's determination. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2000, Houghton Mifflin, Ages 13 to 18, 208p, $15. Reviewer: Alice F. Stern