Too Soon for Jeff »

Jeff Browning is a talented debater who stands a solid chance of winning a scholarship to the college of his dreams. When Christy, his girlfriend, announces that she is pregnant and plans to keep the baby, Jeff is forced to accept that he must face the consequences of his actions. Ready or not, Jeff is going to be a father and his life is being changed forever. This story of a reluctant teenage father was unanimously selected by ALA for 1995 Best Books for Young Adults list.

Children's Literature

Just as 17 year old Jeff has decided that he must be honest with his girlfriend Christy, and tell her that he no longer wants to go steady, Christy shocks him by happily announcing that she is pregnant. Although Christy has hopes of marrying and settling down with Jeff, he has hopes of winning prizes in debating and a scholarship to college. Jeff is not ready to accept the responsibility of fatherhood, and Christy's ideas of motherhood are vague and unrealistic at best. However, by the end of this very frank and realistic novel, both Jeff and Christy, although unmarried and leading separate lives, have matured enough to parent their baby son. The novel explores many aspects of the teen pregnancy problem from the young man's point of view.