• Age: 13 to 17
• Grade: 8 to 12
• Reading age: 13 to 18

How do you say good-bye to your baby after you’ve just said hello to first love?

Francis is a shy 15-year-old when he meets edgy, confident 16-year-old Sawyer at a party. Sparks fly… and Sawyer gets pregnant. They hardly know each other, but now must deal with both their relationship and the reality of a baby. Francis has a lot of growing up to do, and now it seems like he is being forced to do it all at once. When his life collides with Sawyer’s, Francis is forced to confront his own stereotypes about loss, sexuality, and family. Sawyer decides to give the baby up for adoption, but that’s just the start. Over the months they wait for the baby to be born, Francis and Sawyer try to deal with their choices. Will Francis follow Sawyer’s brave example? Or will he turn his back and pretend his life has not changed? Where will they be when it’s time to say good-bye to baby London?

Julie Burtinshaw is an award-winning author of six books, five of them novels for young adults, including The Darkness Between the Stars, The Perfect Cut, The Freedom of Jenny, Adrift, and Dead Reckoning. She teaches writer’s workshops in high schools across Canada and lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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