From: Hollis Rudiger <hmrudiger>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 09:50:40 -0500

First Part Last is one of my top 5 YA books of all time. Angela Johnson has taken a black male teen, so often stereotyped and villainized in all kinds of media, and made him a hero. He is so much more than a sympathetic character, he really is a hero: Of course, Bobby is all things that all teenagers are, a mixture of immaturity and promise: he is impulsive, adventurous, not always able to think about long term consequences or balance priorities, he has good friends, a great family, a girlfriend he loves, his school work is not always his focus, he makes mistakes... But Bobby's decision to raise his baby alone raises him to the kind of standard to which all people should aspire. He takes responsibility for his actions, and is faithful and loyal to those he loves.

I cried my eyes out the first time I read FPL. The tenderness that Bobby feels (and is able to articulate) for Feather made me weak in the knees.

And then there is his Mom. What a character she is! The tension she feels between wanting to save the day and do the best for her grandbaby and wanting Bobby to learn to be self sufficient is, for this reader, almost painful. What a great mom (and grandma!) she is.


I recently listened to the audiobook of this book in my car while driving to work. There are 2 readers, one for Bobby and one for Nia. The readers do an amazing job of bringing Johnson's novel to life, and I confess, I cried some more.

HR


 

Hollis Margaret Rudiger, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706

hmrudiger at education.wisc.edu Voice: 608-263-3930 Fax: 608-262-4933 www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Fri 16 Sep 2005 09:50:40 AM CDT