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About
“Biology Lessons” is a heartfelt and profound contemporary young adult novel about the strength and importance of female friendship in a time when bodily autonomy is outlawed, from award-winning author Melissa Kantor.
Grace Williams has her future all mapped out. A high school senior in her beloved state of Texas, Grace plans to move to New York after graduation to study at Barnard College, and maybe, someday, win a Nobel Prize in biology. When she's asked to tutor Jack Nelson, the star baseball player who's flunking bio, she thinks it'll be just another activity to list on her college application. Studying turns to flirting, flirting becomes secret hook ups, and despite her expertise in bio, Grace gets pregnant. In a state where abortion is illegal, with parents who would expect her to keep the baby, Grace's future is over before it's begun.
With no one else to turn to, Grace must rely on her best friends, Addie and Sebastian, but anti-abortion laws put anyone who helps Grace in grave danger, and anyone they encounter might be an informant. When Grace finds a phone number and an offer of help scrawled in a bathroom stall, the three friends hatch a plan to sneak Grace across state lines. The risks to people she loves and those who have befriended her terrify Grace, but with Addie and Sebastian by her side, at least she isn't alone.
A love letter to hometowns, New York, and infinite possibilities, “Biology Lessons” showcases the transformative power of friendship in a world where choice is something you have to fight for. Melissa Kantor was born in New York City, moved to the suburbs in third grade, and spent the rest of her childhood wishing she still lived in New York. After college, she briefly lived overseas in Israel and Zimbabwe, then returned to her beloved city and never left. She has a husband who's a poet, three children and two cats.
Grace Williams has her future all mapped out. A high school senior in her beloved state of Texas, Grace plans to move to New York after graduation to study at Barnard College, and maybe, someday, win a Nobel Prize in biology. When she's asked to tutor Jack Nelson, the star baseball player who's flunking bio, she thinks it'll be just another activity to list on her college application. Studying turns to flirting, flirting becomes secret hook ups, and despite her expertise in bio, Grace gets pregnant. In a state where abortion is illegal, with parents who would expect her to keep the baby, Grace's future is over before it's begun.
With no one else to turn to, Grace must rely on her best friends, Addie and Sebastian, but anti-abortion laws put anyone who helps Grace in grave danger, and anyone they encounter might be an informant. When Grace finds a phone number and an offer of help scrawled in a bathroom stall, the three friends hatch a plan to sneak Grace across state lines. The risks to people she loves and those who have befriended her terrify Grace, but with Addie and Sebastian by her side, at least she isn't alone.
A love letter to hometowns, New York, and infinite possibilities, “Biology Lessons” showcases the transformative power of friendship in a world where choice is something you have to fight for. Melissa Kantor was born in New York City, moved to the suburbs in third grade, and spent the rest of her childhood wishing she still lived in New York. After college, she briefly lived overseas in Israel and Zimbabwe, then returned to her beloved city and never left. She has a husband who's a poet, three children and two cats.
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Reviews
"★"A moving story . . . a nuanced take on teen pregnancy, one that could be rightly read as an update to the familiar YA problem novel. The book manages to highlight the personal without excluding the political and favors truthful pain over tragic histrionics, ultimately allowing a big, bright, and complicated future for its main character. . . This is a book that Judy Blume would approve of, whe
BCCB, starred review
"★ "Through Grace's eyes, the reader is introduced to a Texas rarely seen in popular media: a diverse, beautiful tapestry of people, many of whom are capable of a tremendous amount of empathy . . . This unfiltered glance at the realities of a post-Roe era strikes the perfect balance between storytelling and sharing information, all without casting judgment."
Booklist, starred review