This excellent YA novel concerns Afeni, who is twelve years old and lives with her mother. Her parents are divorced, and her mother is a recovering alcoholic, but things have been stable for Afeni and she and her mother certainly don't lack for anything -- her mom is also a bit of a workaholic. Afeni's world gets shaken up when her mother decides to take in Rebecca, the pregnant fifteen-year-old daughter of an old college friend. Afeni is most certainly NOT happy about this; she doesn't want to share her space, especially not with a girl who was dumb enough to end up pregnant. Gradually, however, she and Rebecca form a bond, and Afeni learns to take down some of the walls she built up when her mother wasn't doing as well.This novel is populated with warm, realistic characters; I particularly liked Marion and Bernadette, a lesbian couple who are friends with Afeni and her mother. The growth of the relationship between Afeni and Rebecca is treated realistically -- there is no sudden moment when they are friends. Instead it's a slow process, and the two of them often backslide into adversarial behavior. I wish the novel had been a little longer; Woodson's novels are always brief, and she does wonderful things in a short span of pages, but I would sometimes like her to try writing a long novel and see what happened. The other thing about the novel that niggled at me a little is that Rebecca is hugely lucky in terms of the attitudes of the people who adopt her child, which was great because I wanted her to be happy, but I did wonder how realistic it really was (it was an open adoption, and Rebecca was to be allowed to visit her child, etc., which I know does happen, I'm just not sure how often).
Twelve-year-old Feni protests against her mother allowing a fifteen-year-old pregnant girl live with them until the baby arrives. Yet, her mother insists on doing a favor for an old friend. Feni and her single mother live an upper class neighborhood while Rebecca’s family struggles to make ends meet. When Rebecca first arrives, Feni finds her rude and obnoxious. Rebecca views Feni as a sheltered rich girl who has everything she wants. In the beginning, they clash and exchange some harsh remarks towards one another. Gradually, their friendship blossoms into a sister-like relationship. Aside from teen pregnancy, The Dear One touches upon several other real-life issues including class differences, living with a single parent, alcoholism, gay/lesbian relationships, and loss of a loved one. I especially enjoyed the “sex talk” Feni has with her mother. She feels comfortable admitting that before Rebecca came around she never thought about sex much, but now she thinks about it all the time. I was slightly disappointed that Feni’s mom holds off on talking about safe sex and birth control; she just tells Feni they will talk about it when Feni is ready. While she leaves the door open for future discussion, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to inform Feni about safe sex practices.
Do You like book The Dear One (2004)?
The Dear One was a great story that made me want to read more. In this book it taught me that you should never judge someone unless you get to know them. Feni is not with her life, her working mother is never home and to make matters worse Feni has to share a room with a guest she doesn't like. Rebecca is temporarily moving in with Feni and her mother as she waits to give birth. Feni is not thrilled at Rebecca's bossy attitude but is curious about her life. soon Rebecca lets down her tough shell and Feni finally sees the real Rebecca. Feni is thrilled to have a new friend but when Rebecca gives birth, Feni is sad to see her leave after all they've been through. I recommend this book to 7th graders and up because it is a great book that teaches a valuable lesson.
—Kayla Grant
Afeni (which means "the dear one" in Swahili) is a 12-year-old girl dealing with the tragic death of her beloved grandmother and her parents' divorce.When Rebecca, the daughter of her mother's childhood friend, comes to live with Afeni and her mother, Afeni is not pleased. Rebecca, 15, is pregnant, and Afeni is sure they will have nothing in common. At first, the girls clash, but they slowly become friends. Through a cast of strong female characters, Woodson takes on such weighty issues as teen pregnancy, adoption, and the divide between the haves and the have-nots. There is not much plot, but the relationships are rich and believable.
—Debbie
"You can't always be pushing people away. Someday nobody'll come back." —Rebecca, "The Dear One", P. 117 "You have those walls up all around you...Come a day you gonna want to tear them down brick by brick and gonna find that the cement is all hard. What you gonna do then?" —Rebecca, P. 64 Jacqueline Woodson's quiet lyricism never fails in the creation of any of her new books. "The Dear One" tackles a variety of thorny issues head-on, including teen pregnancy, adoption, and complex living scenarios. Feni, Rebecca, and all of the other characters come off the page and into the reader's mind in full living color, three-dimensional and alive and very much human in all of their thoughts, feelings and intentions. Ultimately, as is the case in most of Jacqueline Woodson's profoundly affecting novels, "The Dear One" emphasizes not so much the events that take place in the lives of the people as much as it stresses how the characters choose to react because of who they are. In this way we see a fresh method of writing, one that Jacqueline Woodson molds to her own skills and works very effectively. "The Dear One" is a very good story that people of all races and lifestyles will be able to appreciate as good literature. For me, it would fall somewhere in the two-and-a-half to three-star range. "People are going to judge you all the time no matter what you do...Don't worry about other people. Worry about you." —Marion, "The Dear One", P. 56
—Josiah
