1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Johnson, Angela. 2003. THE FIRST PART LAST. New York, New York. Simon and Schuster Publishing Inc. ISBN 0689849222
2. PLOT SUMMARY
THE FIRST PART LAST is a novel about a sixteen-year-old boy living with his mother and raising his infant daughter named Feather. The story begins on Bobby’s birthday with Nia (Bobby’s girlfriend) informing him she’s pregnant. The chapters are alternately titled “then” and “now,” which represent the past and the present. The “then” chapters provide insight on the lives of Bobby and Nia before Feather is born. The “now” chapters probe the austere veracity of being the solitary parent of a baby at the age of sixteen. The novel concludes with Bobby moving out of his mother’s apartment into his father’s apartment. Finally, Bobby moves out of his father’s apartment to live in a small town called Heaven, Ohio with his divorced brother, Paul. The story ends with Bobby full of hope for a brighter future for he and his daughter.
The reader discovers immediately that sixteen-year-old Bobby is raising his newborn baby, Feather, on his own. In chapters flipping from "Then" and "Now," the story of Bobby's single-fatherhood is revealed. Bobby is a male character who expresses complexity of feeling and thought in this novel. Bobby’s desire to be a good father and his conflicting fear of fatherhood are most evident in the moments he longs to be a child again and follows with the moments of knowing he will never have the life he lost. This is an interesting and poetic look at a teenage father with a heart filled with love for his child and Nia.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
THE FIRST PART LAST by Angela Johnson is about teen pregnancy, told distinctively from the sixteen-year-old father's point of view. Bobby is your typical teen who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Before Feather, Bobby was the usual teenager who enjoyed pulling pranks at school, partying with his friends, and hanging out with his girlfriend Nia. For example, "AND THIS IS how I turned sixteen. . .Skipped school with my running buddies, K-Boy and J. L., and went to Mineo's for a couple of slices. Hit a matinee and threw as much popcorn at each other as we ate. Then went to the top of the Empire State Building 'cause I never had before. I said what everybody who'd ever been up there says. 'Everybody looks like ants.' Yea, right. . .Later on that night my pops, Fred, made my favorite meal-cheese fries and ribs-at his restaurant. I caught the subway home and walked real slow 'cause I knew my mom had a big-ass cake for me when I got there, and I was still full. (In my family, special days mean nonstop food.) I never had any cake though 'cause my girlfriend Nia was waiting on our stoop for me with a red balloon. Just sittin' there with a balloon, looking all lost. I'll never forget that look and how her voice shook when she said, 'Bobby, I've got something to tell you.' Then she handed me the balloon."
Bobby's life changes when Nia gets pregnant, and even though Bobby and Nia want to do the right thing for their baby, they're not sure what is the right thing. Should they put their baby up for adoption and go to college or raise their child together?
Bobby is a sympathetic narrator. Even though he doesn't always make the wisest decisions, the reader will understand his desire to just be a teenager sometimes, even though it compromises his role as a father. For example, "It's whacked, I know. And it didn't help that yesterday something happened that kind of messed me up. I forgot Feather, and left her alone. K-Boy called me up to hit the nets a little and I said yeah. So I grabbed my basketball, zipped up my jacket, and headed out the front door. Got all the way down the elevator. I got all the way to the street door. Then I was almost at the corner. . .She was still asleep as I crawled across the floor to her crib. Breathing that baby breath. Dreaming with baby eyes closed and sweet. And if she was older, just a little older, trusting that I'd be here for her. I lay my basketball down and it rolled out the door into the hall toward Mary's room. And I'd almost got all the way to the corner." The fact that Bobby does make mistakes makes and learns from these mistakes, makes his moments with his daughter all the more compassionate. Bobby is not without fault. Bobby is a father, who knows Feather is the best child in his world, and she makes him want to be a better man, and that type of desire makes for an intriguing character.
One of the biggest mysteries about Bobby is why he is raising Feather as a single father, and by switching back and forth between "now" and "then" in each chapter, Angela Johnson points us along the course that has led Bobby to his current situation. Rather than creating a rough, hard-to-follow narrative, the alternating past and present gives the reader a greater understanding of the significant moments in the past that influence Bobby's behavior in the present.
In THE FIRST PART LAST, Angela Johnson presents the reader with real teenagers facing real challenges. This is an excellent book for any teenager, and especially those who are considering becoming or are already sexually active.
I found this story to be extremely compelling. Bobby's narration and commentary on his new life made me cry and laugh. For example, Angela Johnson is able to capture the confusion, euphoria and fatigue felt by this teen parent as he tries to be a man and do right by his baby and Nia. The format is tremendously successful, as it keeps the reader speculating why Nia is not in Feather's life, and how Bobby came to raise Feather instead of giving her up for adoption. The story also features strong adult figures that love Bobby in spite of his poor judgment. Bobby’s parents allow him to take responsibility for his actions and be a parent to his child.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Starred review in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Up-Brief, poetic, and absolutely riveting, this gem of a novel tells the story of a young father struggling to raise an infant. Bobby, 16, is a sensitive and intelligent narrator.
His parents are supportive but refuse to take over the child-care duties, so he struggles to balance parenting, school, and friends who don't comprehend his new role. Alternate chapters go back to the story of Bobby's relationship with his girlfriend Nia and how parents and friends reacted to the news of her pregnancy. Bobby's parents are well-developed characters, Nia's upper-class family somewhat less so. Flashbacks lead to the revelation in the final chapters that Nia is in an irreversible coma caused by eclampsia. This twist, which explains why Bobby is raising Feather on his own against the advice of both families, seems melodramatic. So does a chapter in which Bobby snaps from the pressure and spends an entire day spray painting a picture on a brick wall, only to be arrested for vandalism. However, any flaws in the plot are overshadowed by the beautiful writing. Scenes in which Bobby expresses his love for his daughter are breathtaking. Teens who enjoyed Margaret Bechard's HANGING ON TO MAX (Millbrook, 2002) will love this book, too, despite very different conclusions. The attractive cover photo of a young black man cradling an infant will attract readers.”
Starred review in BOOKLIST: “Bobby, the teenage artist and single-parent dad in Johnson's Coretta Scott King
Award winner, HEAVEN(1998), tells his story here. At 16, he's scared to be raising his baby, Feather, but he's totally devoted to caring for her, even as she keeps him up all night, and he knows that his college plans are on hold. In short chapters alternating between "now" and "then," he talks about the baby that now fills his life, and he remembers the pregnancy of his beloved girlfriend, Nia. Yes, the teens' parents were right. The couple should have used birth control; adoption could have meant freedom. But when Nia suffers irreversible postpartum brain damage, Bobby takes their newborn baby home. There's no romanticizing. The exhaustion is real, and Bobby gets in trouble with the police and nearly messes up everything. But from the first page, readers feel the physical reality of Bobby's new world: what it's like to hold Feather on his stomach, smell her skin, touch her clenched fists, feel her shiver, and kiss the top of her curly head. Johnson makes poetry with the simplest words in short, spare sentences that teens will read again and again. The great cover photo shows the strong African American teen holding his tiny baby in his arms.”
5. CONNECTIONS
*Allow students to write in their journal explaining how Bobby and Feather’s life would be different, if Nia were healthy and could help Bobby raise Feather.
*In small groups, students are to act out a scene from THE FIRST PART LAST.
*Other books by Angela Johnson:
Johnson, Angela. BIRD. ISBN 0803728476
Johnson, Angela. LOOKING FOR RED. ISBN 0689832532
Johnson, Angela. ON THE FRINGE. ISBN 0803726562
Johnson, Angela. HEAVEN: A NOVEL. ISBN
Johnson, Angela. TONING THE SWEEP. ISBN 0590481428
Johnson, Angela. DAISY AND THE DOLL (A VERMONT FOLKLIFE CENTER BOOK). ISBN 0916718239
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