I unfortunately did not finish this book - I found it incredibly dull to read and kept dipping in and out of it and struggled to convince myself to read it. Thank you very much for the ARC, but it was not for me.

This was a beautifully written story that followsa teen dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. During the story she draws strength and comfort from the biblical story of Mary. It's written in free verse and eloquently deals with this topic without being preachy. I would definitely recommend this book.

Taken from an upcoming review.

What is it? A YA novel in verse by Nikki Grimes that we received from NetGalley in exchange for a free review.

What’s it about? Mary gets called Mister by pretty much everyone, and she’s always been a good girl, until one accident with a beautiful boy. After everything changes, she finds solace in another pregnant Mary, the mother of Christ, whose story is told in her own chapters.

Who’s represented? Mister, her love interest, and her friends are black. Mary is Jewish.

How’s that representation? On one hand, they’re all written well and the novel helps bring light to an important issue, but on the other hand it sort of leans into this idea of poor kid getting stuck in these cycles because they don’t know any better and they’re not going to rise out. Stories like that can feed into their own cycles of stereotyping entire groups of people and placing misfortune or problems entirely on them as the cause instead of calling out the entire system in place, or even just rising above these ideas. Mary is a well depicted Jewish girl, and there was research done to insure historical accuracy, but obviously we have no way of knowing exactly how close Grimes really got.

Aside from that, how is it? I’m not a fan, honestly. The verse isn’t badly written, but the contrast between the narration in chapters wasn’t engaging, and it would have been far more interesting to hear about Mary from Mister’s point of view instead of in the disjointed way her story was actually presented. It also didn’t focus on the religious element as much as you’d think; of course she was telling her own story and not Jesus’, but Mary was a deeply religious woman before being chosen. It was a large part of why she was chosen in the first place. Instead the book focuses entirely on strict Christianity, because Mister is a strict Christian who was led astray from purity by a charming atheist. Judaism isn’t Christianity, and I’m sick of this. This also seems unusually short for a book that actually clocks in at 223 pages, and that’s saying something. Months would go by quickly, which seems strange for a book that focuses on a pregnancy. It would have worked better, perhaps, if there had been more focus on Mister’s feelings about the actual baby she’s going to have, instead of her life moving as fast as it was written.

The ending: I honestly can’t remember the ending too well. Mister finds her faith once more and remembers that G-d loves her and is infinite and she’s not impure. Mary is the mother of Jesus. Mister settles back into her life, only now as a girl who got pregnant at fifteen and has to deal with all of this in a church that wants to reject her. 

If you liked it: Look at Make Lemonade for another story about black teenagers with children, and Ask Me How I Got Here for a different look and path for teen pregnancy. Both are novels in verse.

“Punishment”What else would you call it?I know girls who have sex every dayand walk away.Me, I break God’s law once,and look what it gets me.
Mary Rudine is one of those characters that is very realistic with how society treats certain things and how relationships can work at a young age. She ended up falling for this guy who really seemed to care for her, but sadly things went wrong and he showed his true colors a little to late. Leaving her not only heartbroken and scared, but also having to deal with something on her own that she never thought she would have to worry about. She was always told abstinence by her mother and the church she went to. So when she did end up breaking that abstinence she didn't know who to tell. I really felt for her in those moments, because sadly it is the fate of so many other young women. She is struggling with her faith as well during this time and had been before as well, and this made her even more unsure, until she started reading a book that was also her mothers favorite. This book helps bring her a little bit of peace and comfort in a time where she is going to have to make some very difficult choice on her own.
One other thing I liked about this story was also how her bestfriend stuck by her side through it all instead of just shaming her or making her feel guilty all the time. She treated her just like she always had and I kind of think as well this brought them closer together.
For me I found this book a little confusing at times, on rather it was talking about Mary Rudine or Mary the mother of Jesus. Also I felt like the verse just didn't go together the best at certain points (mainly when it was switching characters), but having said that I'm not sure how it could have been done any other way and make the story what it was.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This novel paralleled the story of two virgins who becomes pregnant in tow very different ways and the struggles each face to do the right thing. While the prose was pretty good, the format didn't work for me. The ending was also abrupt. I wished the author would have written in novel form to flesh out the story in its entirety.