The Body of Christopher Creed

Plot Summary
Torey Adams has a pretty good life - he has two successful parents who are still married, he’s on the football team, and he’s the guitarist for a band. Christopher Creed is a boy he’s known all his life, but hardly knows at all. When Chris goes missing, everyone in town has their theory of what happened. Chris’ odd behavior has gotten him beat up over the years, even by Torey. The note Chris left behind names names - not of those who bullied him, but those who he was jealous of. Torey’s name is on that list, which makes him wonder why, and makes him think of what it was like to walk in Chris’ shoes.
     Together with a girl from school, who is also Chris’ neighbor, Torey starts to put together the pieces. That’s a tough task when there’s no body - did Chris run away, or kill himself? Torey isn’t sure, but he’s determined to keep looking until he finds out.

Personal Response
I love disappearances, unsolved mysteries, and all that jazz. This book delivers all of that, plus a great lesson about having compassion for others. Torey used to beat up Chris Creed, but with the disappearance and seeing Creed’s mother, he develops an understanding about Chris’ actions and home life. This compassion overflows to other people in Torey’s life, but the lesson isn’t preachy or overwhelming. Sometimes books with an open ending leave me feeling unsettled, but the fact that this book doesn’t have a definite resolution really works for the story.

Reviews & Awards
The list of praise and honor for this book is long, so I’ll just list a few highlights: Printz Honor Book, Edgar Award nominee, Volunteer State Book Award nominee, starred review in School Library Journal.

Connections & Activities
Check out the sequel! I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Following Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

Read it for yourself!
Plum-Ucci, Carol. 2008. The Body of Christopher Creed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780152063863

The Pregnancy Project

Plot Summary
Gaby Rodriguez was surrounded by teen moms. Her mother was one, her sisters became teen moms, and her brothers got their teen girlfriends pregnant. No one assumed Gaby would be any different, even though she always put school first, studied hard, and made good grades. She wanted to go to college and not have a baby holding her back from accomplishing anything she wanted in life. When she got a boyfriend in high school, people started making comments that she would end up pregnant. That didn’t happen. But because every student had to do a senior project, Gaby decided to pretend she was pregnant and see how people judged her and how the outlook of her future changed. She didn’t think ahead to what would happen when she told friends, teachers, and classmates that she had been lying to them for nine months…

Personal Response
I personally love social experiments. Adam Shepard’s Scratch Beginnings is one of my favorites for its uplifting message, and this book is on that list now, too. I think Rodriguez was really creative in picking this project, as well as brave for willingly doing something that she knew people would judge her for - and she had to listen to their comments! The writing was a little juvenile, but I think that will actually help this book have a wider audience. Young girls can read it, understand it, and take away a very important message.

Read it for yourself!
Rodriguez, Gaby. 2012. The Pregnancy Project. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781442446229