Jungle Rumble

Johnson, Angela. The First Part Last.  New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2003.

What would you do if on your 16th birthday your girlfriend tells you she is pregnant?  There are plenty of books and movies on teen pregnancy from the girl’s perspective.  The First Part Last tackles the question from a boy’s view.

I’ve been thinking about it. Everything. And when Feather opens her eyes and looks up at me, I already know there’s a change. But I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backwards and do the first part last. They’d be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end.

Then everybody could end their life on the momma or daddy’s stomach in a warm room, waiting for the soft morning light.

Beginning his story when his daughter, Feather, is just 11 days old, 16-year-old Bobby tells his story in chapters that alternate between the present and the bittersweet past that has brought him to the point of single parenthood.  Bobby tells his parents about the baby (”Not moving and still quiet, my pops just starts to cry”) and contrasts his father’s reaction with that of Nia’s father (”He looks straight ahead like he’s watching a movie outside the loft windows”).

The way Bobby describes Nia and stands by her throughout the pregnancy conveys to readers what a loving and trustworthy father he promises to be.