#ted caplan

[randomrichards]

UNPREGNANT

[fl0w3rp0w3rgrl]

I’m Not Surprised it’s Set to be a Movie

Really, I’m not. I was planning out this post about Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan this morning, and in my head, I was thinking ‘Wow this would make a GREAT movie.’ Then, I remembered that Unpregnant is actually going to be a movie. There is not yet a release date, but the movie is going to be one of HBOs first originals. 

Quick Synopsis: Veronica Clarke is seventeen years old, bound for an Ivy League next fall, and seems perfect to the outside eye. Perfect grades, perfect friends, perfect boyfriend--who somehow got her pregnant despite always using protection. Veronica must make a decision that will affect the rest of her future. 

Here’s why I think the book will make such a good movie. We have all the standard teen movie plot points: 

- Seemingly perfect girl has something happen that acts like a catalyst 

- Boyfriend who also seems perfect but it kind of an idiot and a jerk

- Former best friend who has become the high school social pariah but agrees to join the girl on a wild thousand mile road trip filled with hijinks

I have no idea if the movie is going to be any good or not, but you should definitely read the book so you have something to compare it too. 

[oopsbooks]

RESEÑA: UNPREGNANT

AGRADEZCO A EDICIONES URANO POR EL EJEMPLAR

Sinopsis:

 «Un extraordinario debut sobre el largo y sinuoso camino de la adolescencia. Amistades y viajes en auto. Divertidas travesías y dolorosas decisiones. Está todo aquí. Una historia que nos recuerda esos momentos cruciales de nuestra juventud que nos obligan a crecer un poco más rápido, entender lo que es importante y, a veces, más importante aún, lo que no lo es.»

Opinión sin spoliers:

¿UN LIBRO QUE HABLA SOBRE REALIZARSE UN ABORTO? ¡QUÉ ESCANDALO!

Antes de comenzar a hablar sobre el libro quiero contarles que lo leí a lado de mi querida Dereane T. y su compañía hizo aún mejor la experiencia de leer este libro, aquí les dejo su reseña por si también quieren conocer su opinión.

Tenía miedo que el libro se fuera más hacía algo como ABORTA, ya saben, que no se sintiera la naturalidad de los hechos, como los libros que quieren ser inclusivos, pero no se cansan de recordarte que la pareja es gay y uno quieres gritarles ¡NO NECESITO EL RECORDATORIO!

Pero no, afortunadamente este libro no habla de realizarse un aborto, habla de que el aborto es precisamente algo que pasa en la vida, algo que decides y que depende de tus circunstancias, en este libro es solo parte de la trama, pero no es lo esencial, me explico:

Nos cuenta la historia de Verónica, una estudiante modelo, rubia, hermosa, popular hasta cierto punto, tiene un novio que la ama y amigas que están ahí para ella siempre, aparentemente es lo que toda chica desearía ser, pero entonces… se embaraza.

Verónica recién va a entrar a la universidad y un bebé no entra en sus planes. Proviene de una familia cristiana así que ya sabe lo que pasará una vez que sus papás se enteren, lo puede ver claramente ya que fue el destino de su hermana, madre joven, Verónica iba a ser la primera en ingresar a la universidad y aspirar a un mejor futuro.

Cuando se entera que está embarazada solo tiene a su lado a Bailey, quien era su mejor amiga tiempo atrás, antes de entrar a la preparatoria, esta chica es todo lo contrario a ella y tiene una reputación según los chicos de la escuela.

Después de pensarlo mucho y tener un debate moral consigo misma decide abortar, pero no lo hará con el consentimiento de sus padres por lo que necesita ir a otro estado y la única persona a la que puede recurrir es a Bailey, así que a partir de ese momento la historia se convierte en un roadtrip en el que estas ex mejores amigas vivirán un sinfín de aventuras que las llevaran a volver a acercarse, a al fin hablar sobre aquello que las alejo, Verónica deberá ser consciente de que no es la chica perfecta que ella se cree y que Bailey ha pasado por más cosas de las que ella se imaginaba, incluso cuando si eran amigas. Y si, Bailey es mi personaje favorito, tan ruda por fuera pero con un corazón tan noble por dentro, me enojé muchas veces con Verónica por lo que e había o decía, al final Bailey siempre había sido su amiga y a pesar de ya no serlo la siguió apoyando.

Este libro habla sobre el daño que nos hace guardar apariencias, la presión social, el verdadero significado de una amistad y que a veces lo que creemos que es el amor no lo es realmente. El libro tiene un toque de humor que personalmente amé demasiado, hay momentos en los que es inevitable imaginártelo como una película, una comedia, y ¿adivinen qué? ¡SERÁ UNA PELÍCULA! Y creo que funcionará bastante bien, ya es momento de ver este tipo de historias en la pantalla grande.

Y respecto al tema del aborto… la verdad es que apenas y se toca, no es como un tema tabú, Verónica toma su decisión y aunque hay personas insistiendo en que debe cambiar de opinión ella ya tomó una decisión y creo que eso es muy valioso de leer, saber que si una ya ha tomado una decisión al final se debe respetar porque quien iba a vivir con las consecuencias iba a ser ella y no es justo que alguien más tome esas decisiones sobre una mujer.

Y ya, por último:

El tema del aborto es muy difícil de conversar porque todos tenemos opiniones diferentes, yo estoy a favor porque se me hace horrible la situación de los niños que solo vienen al mundo a sufrir y la hipocresía de las personas que defienden la vida pero antes de que el bebé nazca.

Nadie debe obligar a alguien a ser madre cuando no tiene las condiciones ni el deseo de serlo, y si estás en contra es tan sencillo que simplemente tú no lo hagas en el momento en que estés embarazada.

Este libro pone al tema como algo tan natural y al mismo tiempo complicado, Verónica no se lo menciona a sus padres porque no los quiere decepcionar, porque por su religión sabe que no se lo van a permitir.

Al final el dolor y la carga de conciencia de Verónica no tiene nada que ver con practicarse un aborto sino con lo que comentará la gente porque hoy en día se nos hace tan sencillo juzgar y en ningún momento nos ponemos a pensar en el contexto.

Recomiendo este libro para ver la situación desde un punto menos radical, basta de juzgar.

Gracias por leerme, nos vemos en próximas reseñas, recuerda que todos los días se publican algunas citas aquí en el blog de los libros que voy leyendo, y mi chat siempre está abierto para cuando quieras hablar.

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[mobilepubliclibraryteens]

Seventeen-year-old Veronica Clarke never thought she would wish she’d failed a test until she finds herself holding a thick piece of plastic in her hands and staring at two solid pink lines. Even the most consistent use of condoms won’t prevent pregnancy when your boyfriend secretly pokes holes in them to keep you from going out-of-state for college. Veronica needs an abortion, but the closest place she can legally get one is over nine hundred miles away—and Veronica doesn’t have a car. Too ashamed to ask her friends or family for help, Veronica turns to the one person she believes won’t judge her: Bailey Butler, Jefferson High’s own little black cloud of anger and snark—and Veronica’s ex-best friend. Once on the road, Veronica quickly remembers nothing with Bailey is ever simple and that means two days of stolen cars, shotguns, crazed ex-boyfriends, truck stop strippers with pro-life agendas, and a limo driver named Bob. But the pain and betrayal of their broken friendship can’t be outrun. When their fighting leads to a brutal moment of truth, Bailey abandons Veronica. Now Veronica must risk everything in order to repair the hurt she’s caused

[teenageread]

Review: Save Steve

Synopsis:

Steve Stevenson is an asshole. That might not be a cool thing to say about someone with cancer, but it’s true. Yeah, he throws legendary parties and is the most popular guy in school, but he also loves humiliating pranks, Cardi B, and doesn’t recycle. Worst of all, he’s dating Kaia—the girl of nice guy Cam’s dreams.

But when a desperate Kaia asks Cam to help her raise money to pay for Steve’s experimental treatment, Cam offers to organize the biggest, most viral fundraising campaign—SaveSteve.com. Maybe then Kaia will finally see Cam as the perfect, thoughtful, altruistic, good guy for her. But Steve’s no fool. He’s totally on to Cam’s plan. And to stop him from stealing his girlfriend, he’s going to do whatever it takes to make Cam’s life as miserable as his own.

From Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan, authors of Unpregnant, comes a quirky, funny story about the pressures of who others expect you to be and what it really means to do the right thing.

Plot:

Cam waited for the perfect moment to ask Kaia out on a date. After a summer night protesting to Save the Wetland, where Kaia and Cam bonded, he knew she was the girl for him. If only the perfect moment would arrive. After seven failed attempts to ask Kaia out, Cam thought one of Steve Stevenson’s famous parties would be the right chance. Yet by that point, it was too late. With a very intoxicated Steve helping Cam on the search for Kaia, making fun of him along the way, it was when they reached Kaia that Cam found out Steve was her boyfriend, and that they have recently gotten together. What is worse is that Steve got diagnosed with cancer, a 94% curable “good cancer”, but now Steve and Kaia have a cancer love story, and nothing could break up that, right? Still trying, Cam uses his power of positive change by helping Kaia create a Save Steve campaign, helping to raise the $20000 needed for Steve’s medical expenses. Knowing Cam is going after his girlfriend, Steve hacks the SaveSteve.com account, and forces Cam to do embarrassing stunts to raise money, basically trying to lower his chances with Kaia. But Kaia is the girls of his dreams, and Cam will do everything to get her, even if that means wearing a diaper to school and rapping to Cardi B. 

Thoughts: 

Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan wrote this novel about Cam, a true not sarcastically white knight, who tries to do the best in the world. This boy never says anything that could be classified as homophobic or racist, he attends a protest to save the sharks, protect wetlands, ban straws, whose role model is Michelle Obama. Literally the nicest kid you could ever meet, and the boy Kaia should be dating. Yet Hendriks and Caplan wrote him with this rude intention to steal Steve’s girlfriend by fundraising money for Steve. Which is the opposite of what our humanitarian Cam is supposed to do. This entire fundraiser is done for a selfish reason, even if you cannot blame Cam for taking his chance to spend time and form a romantic relationship with Kaia. Kaia, was a similar overachieve, Type A personality student, whom you could see going out with either Steve or Cam. Where Cam and she did share similar personalities and hobbies, it was Steve who showed her how to have fun and someone to make her take a pause in life and watch Netflix for an evening. While writing Kaia, the authors did a good job of keeping Kaia in the middle, showing her ability to swing from being in love with Steve to falling in love with Cam. Steve on the other hand was a totally opposite character, a jock, party boy, who is here to have fun and not care too much that he has cancer. Steve, for the majority of the novel, was living by the saying “here for a good time, not a long time”, and only slightly worried that Cam would successfully steal Kaia away from him. In their own unique ways they are likable characters with their own flaws that they recognize and grow from, thus, showing major character growth from the beginning of the book to the end. With a fast-moving plot, and some very funny twists in there, especially involving Steve’s pranks on Cam, and Cardi B made an appearance, this is definitely an okay novel, and one that can join others on the cancer romance shelf.

Read more reviews: Goodreads

Buy the book: Amazon

[rebeccasravereviews]

Book Review: Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan

Book Review: Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan

Veronica is the perfect student – amazing grades, a solid friendship group, ambitious college plans… you get it. The works. But then she finds herself in the school bathrooms peeing over a pregnancy test wondering where it all went wrong. How did this happen? She was so careful. As she tries to break the news to her boyfriend, she finds out the son of a bitch poked holes in the condom to get her…

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[2020ya]

SAVE STEVE

by Jenni Hendriks & Ted Caplan

(HarperTEEN, 09/01/20)

9780062876270

Add to Goodreads

Purchase from Indiebound

Steve Stevenson is an asshole. That might not be a cool thing to say about someone with cancer, but it’s true. Yeah, he throws legendary parties and is the most popular guy in school, but he also loves humiliating pranks, Cardi B, and doesn’t recycle. Worst of all, he’s dating Kaia—the girl of nice guy Cam’s dreams. But when a desperate Kaia asks Cam to help her raise money to pay for Steve’s experimental treatment, Cam offers to organize the biggest, most viral fundraising campaign—SaveSteve.com. Maybe then Kaia will finally see Cam as the perfect, thoughtful, altruistic, good guy for her. But Steve’s no fool. He’s totally on to Cam’s plan. And to stop him from stealing his girlfriend, he’s going to do whatever it takes to make Cam’s life as miserable as his own. From Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan, authors of Unpregnant, comes a quirky, funny story about the pressures of who others expect you to be and what it really means to do the right thing.