Michele C. Hughes (Children's Literature)
For those who wonder how a teenage girl can abandon her baby in the trash, this story attempts to flesh out the often one-dimensional character the evening news depicts. Fifteen year-old Devon has spent a long and lonely night of labor and delivery on her bathroom floor, and she is still in shock from the reality of the pregnancy she has spent months denying. When a neighbor discovers the baby in a dumpster, a police search of the neighborhood reveals Devon bleeding on her sofa. The consequences that result from her choice to try to hide her baby are sobering: a handcuffed journey from the hospital to a juvenile detention center, a court date, high school classes at a juvenile facility filled with menacing young women, and finally a critically important hearing to determine if Devon will be tried as an adult. The characterization of Devon shows her to be an achiever, a talented athlete, and a star student, so it takes some doing to reconcile those surprising traits with her criminal deed. The reader wants to root for her and indeed is primed to understand how she could do this, but between Devon’s reticence to open up to her attorney (or anyone, really) and the author’s use of the third person viewpoint, it is difficult to connect with her, to feel what she feels. At some points, the details of Devon’s journey are so specific--the medical exam, the court proceedings, the attorney-client conversations--that the book lacks heart and art. It reads more like a guide to what to expect when you do not know you are pregnant and less of the intriguing narrative it might have been, had there been more pathos. 2009, Viking/Penguin Group, $17.99. Ages 14 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2009 (Vol. 77, No. 13))
Devon, a perfect student and soccer star, can't explain how she didn't know about her pregnancy or how she could put IT, bloody and wailing, in a trash bag and carry IT out to a dumpster. Efaw captures Devon's mortification, denial and despair, shifting fluidly between her present experiences in a juvenile jail and the terrifying night a baby inexplicably arrived. As her no-nonsense lawyer pushes for answers, readers experience gripping flashbacks alongside Devon. Mounting tension culminates only when Devon finally faces her entire, horrific act. The author constructs powerful, pressurized scenes inside the girls' detention center as well, filling it with believable, disturbing characters, rigid rules and the metallic echoes of lock-downs. Authentic dialogue and pithy writing allow teens to feel every prick of panic, embarrassment and fear. They also quickly understand how Devon could delude herself for so long: No one would want to emulate Devon's mother, a salacious, brassy man-hunter who got knocked up as a teen. Young adults with smoldering parental resentment or with fixations on perfection will understand Devon's devastation at losing a cultivated future. 2009, Viking, 368p, $17.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 12 up. © 2009 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Alda Moore (Library Media Connection, November/December 2009)
Fifteen-year-old Devon is driven to make more of herself than her single mother who in Devon’s eyes is only out for the next man she can catch. Devon copes with the boyfriends her mother brings home by driving herself to succeed as an honor student and a standout soccer player. This drive is so intense it leads her to deny the undeniable signs that she is pregnant. Her denial is so complete that she cuts herself off from everyone who could help her deal with the situation. In shock after delivering the baby alone while her mother is at work, Devon panics and places the newborn in a dumpster where it is discovered by a neighbor walking his dog. Devon finds herself charged with murder and incarcerated in Juvenile Detention. Devon must face up to her actions and come to grips with the situation. The story ending is realistic and leaves the reader feeling Devon sees herself and her relationship with her mother through a new lens. A gripping story with strong characters and good pacing, Amy Efaw’s realistic fiction is very believable and holds the reader to the end. Recommended. 2009, Viking Children’s Books (Penguin Young Readers Group), 352pp., $17.99 hc.. Ages 14 to 18.

Barbara A. Ward (The ALAN Review, Summer 2010 (Vol. 37, No. 3))
Fifteen-year-old Devon is the last person anyone would expect to be in trouble. A role model for others, she makes good grades and is a soccer star. But Devon has kept her pregnancy a secret from everyone, even herself. Alone in her Tacoma apartment, she gives birth, stuffs the child in a garbage bag, and throws it--along with the trash in the place--in a dumpster. The police quickly arrest her for attempted murder, and she is sent to a juvenile detention facility while her fate is determined. Her attorney Dom, who wants her charged as a juvenile, not an adult, encourages Devon to peel off the protective layers to get to the truth. Told through a series of effective graphic flashbacks in which Devon distances herself by thinking of the newborn babe as IT, this book prompts much thought about guilt and conscience and our assumptions about others. Category: Teen Pregnancy/Moral Dilemmas/Justice. YA--Young Adult. 2009, Viking, 356 pp., $17.99. Ages young adult.Tallulah, LA

Nancy K. Wallace (VOYA, October 2009 (Vol. 32, No. 4))
When police officers find Devon lying on a blood-soaked couch in her mother’s apartment, she barely remains conscious long enough to hear them read her rights. In a fog of pain and weakness, she hears them describe the newborn baby found in a plastic bag in the trash can in the alley. In the emergency room, Devon insists that she is only having a bad period until, restrained and sedated, undeniable proof is revealed that she has given birth. A few days later, she is taken to the juvenile detention center where she awaits a hearing. With the help of her attorney, Devon gradually remembers her first and only sexual encounter, her secret pregnancy, and the nightmarish birth that she endured alone in her bathroom. Devon has distinguished herself as a high school honor student and a star soccer player. Afraid of following in her single mom’s footsteps, Devon lies to her doctor, her coach and her friends to hide her pregnancy, cutting herself off from any available help. Only her complete denial of her pregnancy and the birth transforms Devon into a sympathetic character. With horror, readers realize that their worst fears are confirmed. There are no extenuating circumstances that excuse Devon’s behavior. She bundled her newborn infant into a garbage bag to still its cries and erase its existence. Chilling, realistic and horrifying, this book examines clinical denial in a young girl. Graphic and heart-wrenching, this book belongs in every high school and public library. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2009, Viking, 304p., $17.99. Ages 15 to Adult.

Hannah Preisinger, Teen Reviewer (VOYA, October 2009 (Vol. 32, No. 4))
This suspenseful story about a young girl is full of heartbreak and fear. Scared and without her mother, who is unreliable at best, Devon has no one to whom she can turn. The book paints a canvas of murky confusion as she battles the state and her own self denial. Readers will be shocked by the sharpness of the characters, the newspapers, court, and the reality of the plot itself. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2009, Viking, 304p., $17.99. Ages 15 to Adult.