Girls on the Verge - Hardcover

Biggs Waller, Sharon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1250151694 ISBN 13: 9781250151698

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2019

Synopsis

"Absolutely essential, as is the underlying message that girls take care of each other when no one else will." ―Booklist, Starred Review

"[C]ompelling... This title offers realistic viewpoints on teenage pregnancy, along with what it is like to have the right to choose, wanting that right, and living knowing that you will be judged for having exercised it." ―School Library Journal, Starred Review

Girls on the Verge is an incredibly timely novel about a woman’s right to choose. Sharon Biggs Waller brings to life a narrative that has to continue to fight for its right to be told, and honored.

Best Books of 2019 ―Cosmopolitan

Camille couldn't be having a better summer―she kills it as Ophelia in her community theater's production of Hamlet, catches the eye of the cutest boy in the play, and nabs a spot in a prestigious theater program. But on the very night she learns she got into the program, she also finds out she’s pregnant. She definitely can’t tell her parents. And her best friend Bea doesn’t agree with the decision Camille has made.

Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone...and the system is very much working against her. At her most vulnerable, Camille reaches out to Annabelle Ponsonby, a girl she only barely knows from the theater. Happily, Annabelle agrees to drive her wherever she needs to go. And in a last minute change of heart, Bea decides to come with.

Over the course of more than a thousand miles, friendships will be tested and dreams will be challenged. But ultimately, the girls will realize that friends are the real heroes in every story.

About this title

About the Author

Sharon Biggs Waller is the Friends of American Writers-award winning author of A Mad, Wicked Folly and The Forbidden Orchid. She also writes for magazines about horses, chickens, and farming. Previously, she worked as a riding instructor at the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace. In addition to writing, she is a dressage rider and trainer and Planned Parenthood volunteer. She lives on a ten-acre sustainable farm in Northwest Indiana with her husband, Mark.

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—This compelling novel opens with a stark and timely reminder of a woman's right to choose in June 2014, when there were only 19 abortion clinics left in Texas, a state which included five million women of reproductive age. Camille, ready to spend her summer at an advanced drama camp, is horrified to find herself pregnant from her first and only sexual encounter, and unwilling to give her future up for a baby with a boy she's never spoken to again. Knowing she would be disappointing her parents and unwilling to tell them, Camille tries repeatedly to solve her problem, before setting off with two friends determined to help her: Annabelle because she believes in the right to choose, and Bea because she is Camille's friend. Waller realistically depicts the 17-year-old's struggles to get an abortion, from ending up at a clinic where she's prayed over, with a doctor who won't do anything without parental consent, to facing a judge who won't bypass parental consent as he's sure he's doing what's best for her. This title offers realistic viewpoints on teenage pregnancy, along with what it is like to have the right to choose, wanting that right, and living knowing that you will be judged for having exercised it. An author's note details what inspired this personal story and additional information on Roe v. Wade. VERDICT A first purchase.—Betsy Fraser, Calgary Public Library, Canada

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1250151694
• ISBN 13: 9781250151698
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240