The Pregnancy Project: A Memoir

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Author(s)

Gaby Rodriguez

Publisher

Simon & Schuster

Genre(s)

Non-Fiction

Age Range

14+

Release Date

January 17, 2012

ISBN

1442446226

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It started as a school project…but turned into so much more.

Growing up, Gaby Rodriguez was often told she would end up a teen mom. After all, her mother and her older sisters had gotten pregnant as teenagers; from an outsider’s perspective, it was practically a family tradition. Gaby had ambitions that didn’t include teen motherhood. But she wondered: how would she be treated if she “lived down” to others' expectations? Would everyone ignore the years she put into being a good student and see her as just another pregnant teen statistic with no future? These questions sparked Gaby’s school project: faking her own pregnancy as a high school senior to see how her family, friends, and community would react. What she learned changed her life forever, and made international headlines in the process.

In The Pregnancy Project, Gaby details how she was able to fake her own pregnancy—hiding the truth from even her siblings and boyfriend’s parents—and reveals all that she learned from the experience. But more than that, Gaby’s story is about fighting stereotypes, and how one girl found the strength to come out from the shadow of low expectations to forge a bright future for herself.

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The Pregnancy Project

March 25, 2013

Overall rating

3.0

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Learning Value

N/A

A friend of mine read this for a project in school, then I watched the Lifetime film when it came out and decided to read the book.

What I Liked: Rodriguez’s writing was simple and to the point, and I liked how it seemed as if she was having a one-on-one conversation with the reader. It was personable and kept things interesting, and the lack of fluff kept things focused on what really mattered.

The project itself was very interesting. Definitely unique. I admire Rodriguez for her choice to tackle stereotypes in the way that she did, and I admire her attitude. She presented her story and it’s effects on her life fairly well, and again, because of her writing, I got a lot of her personality out of the novel.

What I Didn’t Like: For myself, I would have liked to have read more about the project itself, and how it affected Rodriguez. Half of the book was spent on her family history, and about a fourth was spent on the aftermath (publicity, media, repercussions, etc). I feel like the project was the most important and interesting part of it, but it had so little screen-time in the book, and I was pretty disappointed with it.

Verdict: The Pregancy Project is a well-written look at challenging stereotypes. The idea of the project was unique, and the teen who executed the project was unique. I just would have liked to spend some time actually reading about said project.