Teenage Mothers; Teenage Fathers

Claude A. Guldner is a professor of family studies at the University of
Guelph.

This is a book which grows out of the personal experience of the author, Anne Ross, through her work counselling pregnant teenagers. In that sense it has a vitality which enables the reader to grasp the importance of the topic and the need for resources to help professionals and others deal adequately with the problems. Although this book sets a scene from the ordinary to the highly dramatic teenage pregnancy, it is too thin in providing the solid resource materials to be of much guidance. It is obvious that the author has much rich experience from years of working in the field of teen pregnancies. The design of the book is to focus more on the cases, which are interesting; but after reading a few, one feels that it is enough and there is a desire for more content specifically focused on the problems the case is being used to illustrate. The author divides the book into three broad sections: “Let’s Talk About It,” which focuses on the difficulty teenagers have in sharing their situation; “What Are My Options?,” which provides some ways in which teens deal with the problem; the third section, “Child Mothers,” includes a brief chapter on teen fathers, which is hardly enough to justify the title Teen Mothers; Teen Fathers. There is a need for more work on teen fathers, and the title of this book would make one think it is here, but the reader will be disappointed. The final two chapters contain some of the solid resources that could have been expanded for both professional and lay readers alike. They deal with coping processes and prevention. Further books to read and a reference section are included at the end. This book is like a tray of hors d’oeuvre; one hopes the author will provide us with meat and potatoes in her next work.