Plan A by Deb Caletti

Plan A by Deb Caletti. Labyrinth Road, 2023. 9780593485545

Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 4

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Realistic fiction

What did you like about the book?  Ivy dreams of escaping her small Texas town for college but as the story opens, those dreams are threatened by an unplanned pregnancy. Because it’s too late for the pharmaceutical option (though she’s still in her 1st trimester), she’ll have to travel to Oregon for an abortion. Her awesome boyfriend of one month (Lorenzo) offers to drive her and the book follows their “abortion road trip love story.” Fortunately for Ivy, her mom, extended family, and a network of friends along the way support her decision and tell her their own stories about choice or lack of it. As the trip progresses, Caletti reveals that Ivy and Lorenzo haven’t even had sex yet (they do eventually). Instead, Ivy’s a victim of sexual assault, which sets up an interesting parallel to Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, assigned recently for her English class. Once the couple reaches Oregon, the abortion procedure itself is a nonevent, described as minor and a relief. Conflict comes in the form of Lorenzo’s dad (who pressures the teens to reconsider), Ivy’s unsupportive Christian friends, and various anti-choice school officials and townspeople who have way too much time on their hands. All characters cue as White.

This book tackles a hot-button issue that will be of interest to many teens. The fact that Ivy’s family struggles financially makes the story more realistic but also gives her the opportunity to reflect on how women with even fewer resources handle an unwanted pregnancy.  The repeated refrain of “one in four” (describing women who have had an abortion) hammers home the procedure’s necessity and ubiquitous nature. Ivy’s considered decision to have an abortion and Caletti’s realistic treatment of both the choice and the procedure firmly ground the story in health care rather than rhetoric.

Anything you didn’t like about it? Readers will have to buy the clumsy “abortion road trip love story” plot. By choosing to make Ivy the victim of assault (which accounts for relatively few abortions), instead of birth control failure or risky behavior, Caletti stacks the deck in favor of her character’s rapid but determined decision making.  Even for pro-choice readers, the repeated scenes of women recounting their unwanted pregnancies after dinner starts to feel didactic.

To whom would you recommend this book?  Teen readers interested in realistic, ripped-for-the-headlines stories. UNpregnant (2019) by Jenni Hendricks and Ted Caplan covers some of the same territory but in a less earnest fashion and with more girl-power moments.  

Who should buy this book? High school and public libraries

Where would you shelve it? YA fiction

Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No

Reviewer: Susan Harari, Keefe Library, Boston Latin School, Boston, MA

Date of review: December 16, 2023