Dear Diary, I'm Pregnant: Teenagers Talk About Their Pregnancy

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Title notwithstanding, this book consists not of diary entries by
pregnant teenagers but rather of edited transcripts of interviews
conducted with 10 unmarried, pregnant teens. Each subject candidly
discusses the choice she made—motherhood, abortion, or adoption—the
reasons behind it, and its consequences.

Via flyers distributed across North America, Englander invited teenage
girls who had been pregnant to tell their stories. She interviewed some
40 adolescents—the 10 who are profiled in this book reflect her
attempt to achieve “an overall balance” among the three options.
Englander explains in her introduction that premarital pregnancies are
experienced by girls from all social strata. Her subjects include
“Eve,” 15, who got pregnant the first time she had intercourse;
“Samantha,” also 15, whose pregnancy was a consequence of rape; and
“Anastasia,” who had her first abortion at 19.

Half of the teens got pregnant more than once, and, in all these cases,
different decisions were made regarding the outcome of each pregnancy.
Despite Englander’s attempt to strike a balance among the options, her
subjects selected motherhood and abortion twice as often as adoption.
This engaging and useful addition to libraries serving adolescents
concludes with a “help” section. Highly recommended.