• Age: 14 to 18
• Grade: 10 to 12
• Reading age: 14 to 18

Your girlfriend is pregnant. Now what?

For teens faced with an unplanned pregnancy, the news can be devastating. Typically, most attention is focused on the needs of the mother, but teenage fathers also face a future filled with fear, doubt, and guilt. My Girlfriend’s Pregnant provides much-needed information and support for teens suddenly thrust in the role of father.

Based on interviews with teenage dads, social workers, and medical professionals, this book explores:
• What it’s like to discover that your girlfriend is pregnant
• What to expect during pregnancy and childbirth
• The experience of parenthood—both positive and negative
• How involved the role of a teen dad can be
• How parenthood can affect young relationships
• The stress of being a teen dad
• The impact of abortion and adoption on young fathers

With an extensive list of further readings and resources to help with issues ranging from child support to bonding with your child, this book illustrates to young dads that they are not alone and that there are positive ways of dealing with the difficult choices that lie ahead.

Chloe Shantz-Hilkes was born in Kitchener, Ontario, to a family that has been changing and growing ever since. Her parents divorced when she was young and both remarried, leaving her with a delightfully complicated bevy of half-siblings, step-parents and partners, cousins-once-removed, and more. This has given her a deep appreciation for the role that family—whether big, or small; neat, or sloppy—can play in life.Since preschool, Chloe has enjoyed reading and telling stories. Growing up, her various families’ copies of The Balloon Tree, by Phoebe Gilman, and Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch, were well-worn and well-loved. By the time she reached middle school, Chloe was a full-fledged bookworm, almost always engrossed in a book by a fantasy or science-fiction author such as Tamora Pierce or Orson Scott Card. And ever since eschewing grade 12 chemistry and calculus in favor of Shakespeare, Anne Michaels, and four English credits, stories have become her professional focus too.In university, Chloe studied journalism, and went on to work as a radio producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. There, she covered everything from devastating earthquakes, to art exhibitions, infectious disease outbreaks, and the Olympic Games. In the process, she learned that fantasy is only half the story, and that real life is filled with some of the very best plot lines. That understanding eventually led her to her first book with Annick Press, Hooked: When A

Chloe Shantz-Hilkes' profile page

• Best Bets List, Top Ten, Ontario Library Association

“A valuable resource.”

School Library Journal, 12/15

“A comprehensive and important resource . . . It should be on the shelves of high schools everywhere!”

Canadian Children’s Book News, Spring/16

“An essential read not just for teen dads, but also for those supporting them.”

National Reading Campaign, 11/27/15

“Unbiased and well-rounded . . . A valuable book.”

Booklist, *starred review, 12/15/15

“Worth reading.”

A Books Eternal Glory, 09/19/15

“An extraordinary book . . . factual, compassionate, supportive, and non-judgmental.”

CM Reviews, 10/30/15