After by Amy Efaw

This is another Teen Reads book---and a very good one for adults. It follows a 15 year old girl named Devon who denies her pregnancy, gives birth alone on the bathroom floor of her apartment, and then throws the baby into the trash. Pretty harsh premise, right? The book has realistic adults in it (thank goodness! a lot of these teen books have really stupid adults), yet it presents Devon's confusion and fear in a gentle enough way that we can understand (maybe) why she did what she did. Devon is a smart girl, good athlete, successful student. So what goes wrong? You'll have to read the book to understand, but reading the book gave me some understanding into the convoluted ways a teenager can think. I couldn't imagine reading a book about this subject matter and being sympathetic to the girl. Yet I found myself sympathetic to the girl. The book does not follow the baby (thankfully, she lives and is healthy), nor does it explore the responsibility of the baby's father (the girl had unprotected sex with her boyfriend). But the book does a really good job focusing on the 8 miserable days of this girl's life after she throws the baby in the trash. It does a really good job of illustrating just how confused even "good" students can become.