ARC Review: The Baby

The Baby

by Lisa Drakeford

The Baby is written from the point of view of five friends and one life changing event at a birthday party. The five different perspectives are Olivia, Nicola, Alice, Jonty, and Ben. A little bit about each charter is Olivia is best friends with Nicola but is upset when her friend has a baby and finds out she cheated with her boyfriend. Nicola is Olivia's best friend and cheated on her boyfriend Jonty and had a baby Eliza. Alice is Olivia’s little sister and has a hard time making friends so she spends time with Nicola and her imaginary farm. Jonty is Olivia’s abusive boyfriend and supposedly the father of Eliza. And finally Ben is best friends with Olivia and Nicola and is the only one of Nicloa’s friends who supports through this tough time.The theme of this book is drama and realistic fiction.

The Baby is set across five months and each month being from a new perspective. This is a good way to really get the thoughts from each character in the novel. One of my favorite quotes from this novel is “Only five weeks ago she was getting ready for Oliva’s party...Now there is a stack of nappies in the corner”(Drakeford 39). This quote really spoke to me as the reader because it shows how much can change in just a few weeks or even days. My favorite character in the story is Alice because I really feel sympathy for her having a hard time making friends and always being bullied in school. Alice is a very shy girl who spends most of her time alone or reading books in the library trying to avoid, and whenever she tries to make friends she always embarrasses herself. This character was very believable and easy to relate to even if you aren’t like her almost everyone has experienced what she has.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys drama and realistic fiction books because at some points of the book it is easy to relate to one of the characters and the book itself. Overall, I give this book 5 stars it was truly a wonderful story and easy to follow along to as well as great characters.

This book is available to purchase on October 25, 2016.

Review by: Maddie H.

Publisher: Scholastic

*  Our class received an ARC of this book to read/review from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.