The Pregnancy Project Book Review

The Pregnancy Project by Gabby Rodriguez and Jenna Glatzer



Typically a senior project is something simple, volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity or following around a business professional, but Gabby Rodriguez took the call of her sociology project seriously. How could she do something that would make a real difference, that would challenge her peers. So Gabby set out on a journey in which she would pretend to be pregnant for six months, complete with a fake belly bump and symptoms". Only a handful of people would know.

There are a number of judgements that people made about Gabby before knowing her story. Some thought she was searching for her fifteen minutes of fame, while others thought she was purposefully being cruel, tricking the people she called her friends. My greatest fear at the beginning of the book was simply that she was a little too naive about what she was getting herself into.

I was correct. I don't think Gabby realized what the consequences would be. She is smart and defintiely brave and thought about a lot of the way people would treat her, but the reality was harder than she imagined, but the results were incredible.

The thing I took away from this book and what Gabby came away with too was that everyone makes mistakes. Pregnancy is a hard one, made even harder by the people who are supposed to love and care about you. Your family, your friends, your teachers. The mistake has been made, but once the girl decides to go through with the pregnancy, it doesn't end there. The constant stream of negatives fills their life. "Doesn't she know she ruined her life?" "I always knew she would get pregnant." "What a waste." Gabby found solace in the fact that she was not pregnant, but was all too aware that the same comfort was not available to girls who really were pregnant.

The writing is rough, even with the help of a ghost writer, but I think the importance of what is said is enough to make the book a worthy read. Besides, she is seventeen, life only gets better, with or without a child.