Plan A

Plan A

Deb Caletti

2023, Labyrinth Road/Penguin

404 pages

Grades 9-Up

Realistic Fiction

At sixteen Ivy is pretty content with her life in Paris, Texas. She has an adorable boyfriend, a group of great friends, a supportive family, and a job that seems to appreciate her at the local drug store. It all threatens to come crashing down with a little line on a pregnancy test and becomes all too public when the test falls out of her backpack in the middle of class. Pretty soon the whole school--and then the whole town knows Ivy's predicament and they all have strong feelings. The situation is that much more complicated because Ivy's boyfriend is not the father of the unborn fetus. That honor goes to a bad altercation that Ivy would rather forget. Boyfriend Lorenzo knows the whole story and is willing to take responsibility for whatever direction Ivy choses. When she, with her mother's blessing, decide that an abortion would be the best course of action, they must travel to Ivy's grandmother's town in Oregon since the procedure is illegal in Texas. Lorenza volunteers to drive and what follows is an interesting road trip filled with various folks, landmarks, and stories. Meanwhile, the situation back home intensifies and even from long distance Ivy is feeling social pressure to change her course. Will she go through with the procedure? And how will it all affect her future?

Printz winner Caletti is not afraid to shy away from hot-button topics. This time she takes on the woman's right for an abortion and explores the journey for a teenager who is violated and then persecuted when the town finds out that she is pregnant and choosing to terminate. Ivy is reading the book Tess of the D'urbervilles and the author draws connections to Tess's plight in this modern setting. Much of the plot is the road trip and Ivy listening to various points of view about her situation from both sides of the fence. I liked the road trip enough, but found the book a bit "talky" for my taste and agenda driven. I think that the topic is important, but would have appreciated something else to happen within the story. You have to really be looking for a pregnancy/abortion book to pick this up. We hear many different women's stories along the way, which showcases the history of the struggle women have had with sexuality and male dominance, which will appeal to young feminists. Music plays a big part of the story, yet much of the music leaned on to annunciate feelings come from the world of Mom or Grandma. I think young readers would appreciate some of Ivy's music and maybe to include some songs from this century. A playlist at the end would also have been a nice addition. Not my favorite of Caletti's, but well written, timely and with something important to say.