Planet Pregnancy - Final Book Review

    Planet Pregnancy by Linda Oatman High has been a great book. I actually finished really early. I couldn't put it down. It is a story that many girls now a days can relate to. Before teenage pregnancies were not popular around the world now it is not such and uncommon thing. I don't think I could do what Sahara did. She kept her pregnancy a secret from everybody for a very long time. I would've needed to talk to someone about it.

    Sahara is a normal high school girl. She is full of life. One day she finds out that she is pregnant and her world turns upside down. She doesn't know what to do. She doesn't know who to tell. The first few months of her pregnancy is a complete blur to her. In school she is no longer that happy girl she used to be. At home she tries not to be noticed. Since the boy she was with is not someone she could rely on she has to find a way to tell her mother. Sahara changes a lot in the book. You see her mature. You see her get shaped into what a mom should be. She has to make a big decision, and looking back at the ending, I think she made the right choice.

    I think this book is for teenagers. It shows how a regular girl dealt with her problem. Maybe other teenage girls can learn form her. I think this is for teenage girls because this a story of a teenage pregnancy written in a teenage point of view.

    The main character, Sahara, is who I found the most interesting. She developed and changed her views throughout the book, witch is what made her inspiring to me. She made a bad choice in the book, and she realized that, but there few options for her to choose from. In the beginning of the book, Sahara was "Miss social butterfly," and after she found out that she was pregnant, her world turned upside down. She did not want to go out in public, she was confused, she was scared, she was scared. when she first found out that she was pregnant she was thinking that getting rid of the baby was the only way out. Thank god that she did not end up doing that. I think that because of the baby she grew up as a person. She was no longer the teenage girl she was before she got pregnant.

    After a few months of her pregnancy she realizes that she cannot hide the pregnancy much longer. She finally decides to tell her mom that she is pregnant. Although she shows more maturity with that, she does not tell her the complete truth and that shows that she still has some growing up to do. We see all the things she thinks about during her pregnancy. One of the main questions she asks herself is what will people think. She knew that there were other teenage moms out there but she never thought that she would be one of them. Her sort of perfect life turned into hell. I think sahara shows that she is becoming independent throughout the book. She spends a lto more time by herself. She thinks really deeply about what she want in her life. she realizes that she doesn't have many people to depend on.She has her best friend Emma and her mother, but nobody else. She is going to be a single mom just like her own mother was for a while. The soon to be father, sahara's ex-boyfriend, does not believe he is the father. sahara doesn't even want to be with him. She just tried to let him know he was the father, if he didn't belive her there was nothing she could do anymore.I think that when she realizes that her ex-boyfriend is not going to support her, it reminds her a lot of her mom and dad's relationship and how it fell apart.

    The author may have had many reasons to write this book but I think that her main reason was to tell the story of a teenage pregnancy. A lot of teenage pregnancies are not planned and unwanted. In Sahara's case it starts out as many other teenage pregnancies, unwanted. This story ends on a good note. This shows that teenage pregnancies aren't always bad. Although most teenage girls don't want to get pregnant, there are those unusual few that really want to get pregnant. In the beginning of the book Sahara doesn't want to have a baby and her only thought was to get rid of it. You see a real change in her torwards the end of the book.

I just want to build a canopy over my baby and keep it from danger

 

   

     This shows how Sahara is maturing. It shows that she is ready to be a mom. She is thinking like a mom.When it comes to the final day when she actually has the baby she realizes that her baby, Grace, will be the love of her life.

              I'm crying and laughing at the same time....I'm in total love

     Her new baby is going to definately be one of the greatest things that will ever come into her life. I wonder if all new moms feel this way.

    I would have to say the one weakness about the book was that it had a bad ending. It said something about her Sahara's mom waiting at the curb when Sahara walked out of the hospital. I wish the book told a little more about the life of Sahara after the birth of Grace. In my opinion, a lot of books have this same problem. They leave the reader wanting to know more. Sometimes they don't write a sequel or anything, they just leave the readers wondering and imagining ther own endings. I know somwhere torwards the end of the book Sahara says

                 ...and I know everything will be fine...

    That makes me imagine a lot of endings. Everything could be fine for now but I would've really liked to know a little bit more. The ending left me with a lot of questions. Does she end up with her ex-boyfriend Dustin? Does her mom treaat her the same? What does Emma reply to Sahara's txt message? Does Sahara tell her dad about his new grandaughter? These questions were left unanswered so I think of the book as incomplete.

    Other than the ending, the rest of the book was great. As I said before, I couldn't put it down. The book was easy to read and understand. I would recommend this book to all teenage girls. These kinds of things can happen to anyone so why not see what to expect. This book shows what a general teenager does when she finds out she is pregnant at 16. There are a lot more things that make Planet Pregnancy a good book. Check it out.

Planet Pregnancy by Linda Oatman High - Part 3

     In the third and final part of Planet Pregnancy by Linda Oatman High, you see a complete change of heart in Sahara that you can't really understand. In the beginning of the book, all she was thinking about doing was getting rid of the baby. Well she changed her mind. Sometimes I think "what if I was in that situation? what would I do?" Well I thought about it and at first I said to myself that I would never get rid of a baby. I thought everyone deserves a chance to live, but then I thought about it more deeply. What if you weren't ready to raise a child and you knew you had no one to stand by you? I know I would be so scared. This to me is a very difficult situation that Sahara shouldn't have felt the need to deal with alone. After she thought about th situation she decided to tell her mom because she wasn't going to be able to hide the baby much longer. Her mother, like any other mother I know, freaked out. Then Sahara felt better with herself. She knew that her mom would not be happy, but she also knew that her mom wasn't going to put her out on the street in that condition. I think she should've done this from the beginnig, but of course she neede time to think. torwards the very end of the book Sahara's feelings torward the baby change.

I just want to build a canopy over my baby and keep it from danger.

     This shows that she is beginning to care for the baby. She wan'ts the baby to be fine. She is starting to feel like any other mother, who is ready to have a child, should feel. I think she starts to feel this way because now her pregnancy is not a secret. I think telling her mother made her feel that it didn't matter what anybody else thought. Because she didn't have to hide anything anymore, she thought more openly about the situation.

I'm laughing and crying at the same time............I'm in total love.

     Sahara says this after she gives birth. I think this shows that everything is going to be fine and that she made the right choice. I'm not saying that teen pregnancies always turn out this way but this was a appy ending. In this situation, by making one big mistake Sahara gained a lot. She matured and thought life through. She realized that Grace ( her new daughter) was one of the best things that happened to her. I would want my experience with my first child to be like this. The only thing I would change is the age. I would like to wait a while before I decide to become a mom.

Summer

    School is almost over. A couple more weeks and we are out. I still have no plans for summer except going camping with some of my family.
    It is going to be my second time going camping and I hope I have more fun than last time. Last time I didn't even get to go in the water because I was feeling sick. I was on the boat watching the smallest kids while everyone else was swimming. I didn't mind at the time because I wasn't feeling good but looking back, I missed out on a lot of things. I didn't get to ride the sea doos. I wasn't really thinking about that at the time but now I'm mad. I did have fun but I missed out on a lot. I loved being with my family, especially because it's the side of the family that I don't get to see a lot. I loved hanging out with them for a week. I wish we stayed longer.
    The only thing I wish would change would be to stay just a little bit longer. I don't remember exactly where this lake is but it's a beautiful lake. I really want to go. My cousins are already getting prepared for the trip. Last year not everyone in the family went. This year supposedely everyone is going so it's going t obe even better. The only people that are not going are my parents and my grandparents.

    The reason why my parents aren't going is because my mom has never been much of an outdoor person. I most definately didn't get that from her. The only thing I don't like about being outdoors is bugs. Here where I live that is not a problem so I love being outside. Another thing my mom doesn't like about going camping is that everyone goes swimming. To me it seems like she is scared of the water because she doesn't know how to swim. I don't know how to swim either but I'm not scared of the water. My goal for this summer is learning how to swim.

    This summer is going to be fun but not exactly what I wanted it to be. I was really looking forward to going to Mexico this summer but it seems like that is not going to happen. Time goes  by so fats. I can't believe it has already been two years since I went to Mexico. I love going to Mexico. Over there I am basically free. It may be a little dangerous but since it's my parents vacation too, they are a little less strict. They have there time to relax and I have my time to go out. We used to go to Mexico to see my great granmother, but now that she is back living with us, I don't know when we will go to Mexico again. I hope that we go soon because we do have other family over there that I miss.

    After this summer, I only have one more summer until I graduate. Time goes by so fast!!!

Rules of Love

    In relationships today couples aren't very conservative. They can tell eachother anything. They call eachother a lot of names, good and bad, and they are not as respectful towards each other like they were before. The line between what nice guys do and don't do is hard to see. One thing would be that nice guys do not hit girls. However I think that the line between what nice girls do and don't do is different. I think that because a lot of the drama in a relationship is directed to the girl, the reactions of the girls should be tolerated a little more than the guys. In a lot of relationships it is the guy that starts and causes a lot of the arguments so whatever the girl decides to do is understandable. Another thing that nice guys don't do is cheat. If a guy does not want to be with the girl anymore then why cheat, why not just break up. Also nice guys do not disrespect their girlfriends parents. This would also apply for a girl.
    Different rules are set within different relationships and depending on how badly the rule is broken, there are different consequences. Some people just drop the situation because they don't want big arguments. In other relationships one mistake and the relationship is over. I think that consequences ddepend on mutual tolerance.
    It is not clear where the rules come from.I think it is just morals. It is just how you are taught to behave. Although that is not always the answer because sometimes even if you know something is not right, you would still do it. I guess it would depend on the individual. Not all people live by the same rules therefore I don't think there are actual rules set for love. Different people like different things. Although people like different things I think everyone would like respect.

Slavery

    Slavery. It is something that no matter how hard we try, doesn't seem to disappear. There are more slaves in the world now, than ever before. The only difference about slavery now is that it's not all out in the open like before. There are organizations around the world trying to stop slavery but it doesn't seem to help. In the TED talk we watched a while back, Kevin Bales raised a good question. I'm not sure exactly what he said but it was something like, "if we don't have the power to free slaves then are we free?". At first I was really confused by this question.
    I believe we are free in most things but not in every aspect of life. We only have certain freedoms. Of course are freedoms are limited, or else there would be no structure in the world. Some things are a little too over the top though. Before if you were born a slave then you served your whole life as a slave. Now many of the horrible people who own slaves think of the slaves as disposable. It is scary to think that a person can actually be used like that. Even though I know that this actually happens I would like to believe that it doesn't. Would that be considered naive? I don't like to hear the troubles of all the other people in the world. It's not because I don't care(because I do), it's because I think that there is nothing I can do about it. It makes me feel so sad that many people just watch as bad things happen to others. Why is it so hard to get rid of something like this.
    I know that people know that slavery is still going on, I'm pretty sure they know where it is going on too, so why can't they stop it? For slave holders it is easy money. The slaves are cheap and "disposable" so they don't even bother keeping them healthy. They don't care how long they live or if they die because they are easy to replace. You can actually replace a life? What's next? Slavery has been going on for so long now that it's probably too big of a thing that people probably think it's a waste of time to try and stop it. I know that there are people out there who are actually fighting to stop slavery but they haven't gone very far. I wonder if it is even possible to stop slavery after it has expanded to this extent. What can we do? Is there anything we can do? These questions don't seem to have answers.
    I think that to stop slavery there are going to be a lot of processes to go through. After something has been let go so far it's hard to stop it I guess. Has Slavery gained so much power? When I wake up in the morning I don't wake up thinking that I will get beat or tortured or anything like that. I wake up happy not worrying at all about what is going to happen. We lead a worry free life while as we speak thousands of people are getting beaten, people are dying, or getting tortured.When will this end?

Planet Pregancy by Linda Oatman High - Part 1

    Planet Pregnancy by Linda Oatman High is a book about something that has been happening a lot lately in the world. Teenage pregnancy. Sahara is only sixteen when she finds out she is pregnant.  Her world was turned upside down. Before she was "Miss social butterfly" now she "has crept into a cocoon". She used to ba happy all the time now it's the complete opposite. She doesn't feel like talking to anybody. She is completely confused. It didn't bother her when other people went through these things. She was happy that she wasn't going throught that. Now that it's her she doesn't know what to do. She doesn't care what she looks like anymore but she does wonder what people say about her.
    Being Pregnant at 16 is not something out of the ordinary these days. Maybe it happens by accident but it happens all the time. I wonder if all pregnant 16 year olds feel as down as Sahara. Sahara didn't want to tell anybody. Even though she knew that there were other people going through the same thing she didn't want this thing to happen to her.
    "The Dixie Queen will never be seen again. She's dead." I have no idea why she is feeling this bad. She made a choice and now she is having to deal with one of the consequences. The really bad thing is that she is not looking for support from anyone. She doesn't want to tell anybody, not even her best friend Ema. I think if I was acting all down like her everybody would immediately know that something was going on. Why hasn't anybody noticed? If she is usually so alive and happy then why hasn't anyone realized that she was acting different.
    "There's no free guidance in this situation. No easy answers. It's like cancer: something growing without my permission". I think the way Sahara is thinking about this is sick. She is comparing a child that's growing inside of her, to cancer. Maybe she should've thought things through a little more. Now she doesn't even want to talk to anyone about it because she is scared. She is scared of what they might say. Something I think that is also putting her down is thew fact that she doesn't really like the guy. I think that was her first mistake. I wonder who she'll end up talking to about her pregnancy. She can't hide it forever.