The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

Bibliography:

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last. 2003. Simon Pulse. ISBN 13-978068984922

Plot Summary:

Angela Johnson's book The First Part Last is the story of a teenage boy named Bobby. Bobby girlfriend Nia becomes pregnant. They are left with the decision of keeping the baby. They decide to keep the baby but consider adoption. Johnson's allows the reader to feel what Bobby and Nia are feeling. Johnson's character Nia is face with many choices and speaks of her dreams of wanting to be a firefighter. It appears through Nia's dreams that she knows what is in store for her. Bobby is just trying to take things one day at a time. He is left caring for their daughter Feather after Nia is left in a coma. Johnson shows how hard it is for a teen to care for a baby through Bobby's eyes. Bobby's love for Nia and Feather keeps him driven. Johnson portrays a strong voice in this novel and allows the reader to feel compassion and hope for Bobby as the story ends with him leaving New York. Bobby and Feather go to Heaven where his big brother lives to start their own chapter of life. One of hope, promise and happiness.

Critical Analysis:

Angela Johnson's book The First Part Last received the 2004 Coretta Scott King Award for best African American Writer and 2004 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Literature for Young Adult. This short book is written from a teenage boy's point-of-view about being a teen dad. Johnson did not glamorize this short book, focusing her theme on teen parents. She allows the readers to walk in the main character's shoes. The reader feels his pain, joy and sorrows. Johnson's main character Bobby appears to be an ordinary sixteen year-old male, skipping school, eating pizza and going to matinee with his friends K-Boy and J.L. Bobby parents have giving him sole responsibility of taking care of his' daughter Feather. He has to take her to the doctor, babysitter and is in charge of caring for her through the night. This leaves him very tried and he can barely cope with the responsibility of school and raising a baby. Johnson allows the readers to share Bobby and Nia intimate relationship as well as they trails and troubles. Bobby's girlfriend Nia seems to be very strong but passion. She cares for Bobby, this is shown when she decides to keep the baby but considers adoption. Bobby is supportive of Nia's decision and goes with her on doctor visits, rubs her ankles and stomach as well as tries to spend as much time with her as possible. Bobby and Nia even go dancing while Nia is pregnant. Johnson separates her chapters into then and now. Bobby starts out in the now and goes into flash backs about the then (things that already happened). The ending is sad once the reader learns that Nia is left in a coma, leaving Bobby to care for Feather alone. I think seeing Nia like this helps him decide to keep her and not give her up for adoption. Johnson's gives the reader a wonderful inside view of what it is like to be a teen parent by portraying to young teens in a serious loving and caring relationship.

Review Excerpt(s):

From School Library Journal Grade 8 Up-Brief, poetic, and absolutely riveting, this gem of a novel tells the story of a young father struggling to raise an infant. Bobby, 16, is a sensitive and intelligent narrator. His parents are supportive but refuse to take over the child-care duties, so he struggles to balance parenting, school, and friends who don't comprehend his new role. Alternate chapters go back to the story of Bobby's relationship with his girlfriend Nia and how parents and friends reacted to the news of her pregnancy. Bobby's parents are well-developed characters, Nia's upper-class family somewhat less so. Flashbacks lead to the revelation in the final chapters that Nia is in an irreversible coma caused by eclampsia. This twist, which explains why Bobby is raising Feather on his own against the advice of both families, seems melodramatic. So does a chapter in which Bobby snaps from the pressure and spends an entire day spray painting a picture on a brick wall, only to be arrested for vandalism. However, any flaws in the plot are overshadowed by the beautiful writing. Scenes in which Bobby expresses his love for his daughter are breathtaking. Teens who enjoyed Margaret Bechard's Hanging on to Max (Millbrook, 2002) will love this book, too, despite very different conclusions. The attractive cover photo of a young black man cradling an infant will attract readers.Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-12. Bobby, the teenage artist and single-parent dad in Johnson's Coretta Scott King Award winner, Heaven (1998), tells his story here. At 16, he's scared to be raising his baby, Feather, but he's totally devoted to caring for her, even as she keeps him up all night, and he knows that his college plans are on hold. In short chapters alternating between "now" and "then," he talks about the baby that now fills his life, and he remembers the pregnancy of his beloved girlfriend, Nia. Yes, the teens' parents were right. The couple should have used birth control; adoption could have meant freedom. But when Nia suffers irreversible postpartum brain damage, Bobby takes their newborn baby home. There's no romanticizing. The exhaustion is real, and Bobby gets in trouble with the police and nearly messes up everything. But from the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again. The great cover photo shows the strong African American teen holding his tiny baby in his arms. Hazel Rochman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Connects:

Good book to introduce to teenagers about making choices. Have students read book and discuss the seriousness of being a teen parent. Have teens discuss what they want out of life and what choices they need to look at before having sex and serious relationships before they are ready.