On Saturday night, I picked up Jo Knowles' Jumping Off Swings
I write entertainment. Jo Knowles writes the truth.
Jumping Off Swings is about what happens when a high school girl gets pregnant after a one-night stand (more like a five-minute stand). The choices she made and makes affect her, the father of the child, and their friends. The book is told from their alternating first-person points of view. It made me cry. I think many girls and women can relate to Ellie, who is looking for love but finds sex instead. And I think guys could relate to Josh, who isn't a jerk, but instead trying to figure out what it means to be a man.
I understand there have been some challenges to the book. I am unhesitatingly giving this to my 14 year old.