Saying Good-bye to London
$12.95
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. 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. Where will they be when it’s time to say good-bye to baby London?
Praise & Recognition
The story has moments of sweet romance along with gritty realism, and teens will be drawn into what feels like a true story.... Though teen pregnancy is declining throughout the industrialized world, it is still a challenging reality. Saying Goodbye to London provides an unvarnished look at that reality through the eyes of two believable young adults.
CM: Canadian Review of Materials
Burtinshaw’s close look at teen pregnancy and other life crises mostly avoids a moralistic slant, effectively focusing instead on pulling through tough times.
Booklist
Burtinshaw's spot-on dialogue and tight prose keep the pages turning fast... Teen pregnancy stories are often tales of growing up fast, but Saying Good-bye to London is smarter and more complex than that.
Quill & Quire
It’s significant when Sawyer learns she is pregnant that Burtinshaw explores not only the consequences for her but also for Francis. With realistic prose and dialogue possible outcomes are discussed, both for them and for the baby.
Winnipeg Free Press
... a hopeful and optimistic story that challenges teens with the same tough questions that Sawyer and Francis face.
Children's Books Heal
Saying Good-bye to London is a hard-hitting yet sensitively written novel about teen pregnancy… a rewarding book on many levels.
Resource Links
Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids and Teens - Fall 2017 2017 - Commended
Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize - BC Book Prizes 2018 - Short-listed
Details
Publication Date: March 14, 2017
Reading Age: 13 - 19
Genre: Teen, Children's Fiction
Product Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
ISBN: 978-1-77260-029-2
Key Topics
About the Author
Julie Burtinshaw
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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