Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2011
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A thought-provoking and courageous new novel by National Book Award winner Han Nolan.
Nobody gets away with telling Eleanor Crowe what to do. But as a pregnant sixteen year-old, her options are limited: move to Kenya with her missionary parents or marry the baby's father and work at his family's summer camp for overweight kids. Despite her initial reluctance to help out, Elly is surprised that she actually enjoys working with the campers. But a tragedy on the very day her baby is born starts a series of events that overwhelms Elly with unexpected emotions and difficult choices. Somehow, she must turn her usual obstinance in a direction that can ensure a future for herself - and for the new life she has created.
"Starred Review. Nolan presents a sensitive look at the difficulties of teen pregnancy...Drawing in both reluctant and avid readers, this novel is an uplifting page-turner with a great deal of heart." - School Library Journal
"Readers will love Eleanor's openness and admire her strength in dealing with hard choices and unexpected disasters." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. As revealed in her first-person narration, Elly is passionate, smart-mouthed, rebellious and completely endearing. Secondary characters are similarly well-crafted, refusing to fit into stereotypes. Readers may feel like laughing, crying and grinding their teeth in frustration, but they will always feel like they are in the experienced hands of a master storyteller." - Kirkus Reviews
"How Elly plows through this complex morass both before and after the baby arrives makes for not only a strong story but a subtle object lesson as well." - Booklist
"The combination of camp story and problem novel give the book high appeal, and the characters are complex and sympathetic, particularly Elly as she works through her issues and grapples believably with the forced onset of adulthood." - Bulletin
This information about Pregnant Pause was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Han Nolan is the author of the National Book Award-winning Dancing on the Edge, the National Book Award finalist Send Me Down a Miracle, and numerous other acclaimed novels for teen readers. She and her husband live on the East Coast.
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