Teen Angel »

When fifteen-year-old Celia Chavez becomes pregnant, she receives help from her friends, family, and a psychiatrist who recently had a miscarriage.

Francisca Goldsmith - KLIATT

The author's Roosevelt High series (Juanita Fights the School Board, Tommy Stands Alone, etc.) turns to the issue of unwanted teenage pregnancy and explores how a 15-year-old Latina, her family, and her friends cope with it. Like other books in this series, the plot is topically driven, with realistic but simplified characters who speak, as does the narrator, colloquially. Although the story doesn't rely on reader familiarity with others in the series for the most part, Martinez, a counselor whose miscarriage and resulting depression parallel teenaged Celia's discovery of her pregnancy and the attendant crises that raises, has an already established but unexplained relationship with not only Celia and her family but with all her friends as well. While Celia's problems, and how they affect others in her life, are clearly presented, the approach here is uncomplicated and linear: girl is used by young man, girl keeps her pregnancy a secret, girl is shunned by father when secret is discovered, girl is restored to family through the intercession of an understanding counselor who also gets girl into an idealized program for pregnant high school students. High school students themselves will not find Celia's story very engaging, although their younger sisters could. On the other hand, Martinez's story needs a mature audience to appreciate her psychological misery and the effect of the miscarriage on her marital relationship. Perhaps the best audience for this book would be adults learning to read English who have advanced beyond basic literacy but who need a simple storyline to follow through a text and concerns that invite discussion. (Roosevelt High). KLIATT Codes: J-Recommended forjunior high school students. 2003, Arte Publico Press, Univ of Houston, 153p., Ages 12 to 15.