Megan (Megan)

by Mary Hooper

[Jo]

During a Personal Development lesson that was talks about female reproduction, periods, the pill, and how it all works out, the teacher says something that will change 15-year-old Megan’s life. Of course, it is possible be pregnant and still have periods.

From that point on, everything changes for Megan, because she finds out she’s five months pregnant. How did this happen? What is she going to do? What will the father say? What will her Mum say?

This book is pretty good! It focuses mainly on Megan and how she’s thinking and feeling, and what she’s going to do, and less so on what happens to her physically, but it was good! You have no idea how often I wanted to slap her Mum. She was so nasty, insulting and unsupportive, it was just so awful. Reading this book as a 22-year-old, I wanted to give Megan a hug and knock her Mum’s lights out, but if I had read this book at 15, or maybe younger, it would probably have scared me. It could work that young readers may decide to be extra careful because they wouldn’t want their mothers talking to and treating them like that. It was awful.

Claire, Megan’s best friend, also needs a slap. She enjoyed the drama of it all, and didn’t think enough about Megan’s feelings. It was because of her that everyone at school found out and treated her so horribly. She kept pestering Megan about what she was going to do, and had she told her Mum, she just wasn’t helping at all.

I liked how we got to read the conversations with the social worker, Susie. Through those conversations, everything was explained bout what Megan’s options were; keeping the baby or having it adopted, and what either choice would mean for her as she is 15. Not only does Megan get this information, but so does the young adult reader. I thought it was clever.

I think it would have been better if there was more on what happened at antenatal classes and doctors appointments. It would have been cool to see how Megan reacted on seeing her first scan, and all these other things. However, Megan’s feelings on being pregnant were brilliantly portrayed.


"I’d have given anything to have my own room. I really needed it now; I felt the need to pace about, to shout, rock backwards and forwards and generally cry, yell and make a fuss about what happened to me. And another part of me wanted to get right inside myself and be quiet, try and sort things out in my head."
P 29

There were no sex scenes in the book, as it happened before the book started, but it’s a pretty good story that deals with an outcome of unprotected sex. Over all, Megan is a pretty good book, and maybe good as an introduction to the topic for younger readers. I liked it.