| Hanging on to Max | 
 enlarge | Author: Margaret Bechard
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $6.98 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 264161
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0689862687
EAN: 9780689862687
ASIN: 0689862687
Publication Date: December 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Between the midnight feedings and the diaper issue, it's never easy being a new parent. But when you're also a high-school student trying to graduate, the job becomes even more overwhelming. Sam Pettigrew never dreamed he'd spend his senior year pushing a stroller. But when his former girlfriend, Brittany, decided that she couldn't handle being a parent, Sam knew he had to try. Now attending an alternative high school that provides daycare, Sam desperately juggles homework and parenting duties. "The list above my desk said, 'Get Max to sleep by 9:00.' Right under 'Drink out of a cup' and 'nap schedule.' I couldn't even remember what 'nap schedule' meant. " Sam's biggest problem is his lack of support: Brittany has left town to start over, and Sam's widowed father, angry over Sam's decision, refuses to help Sam other than financially. Claire Bailey, another teen parent, only serves to show Sam how alone he is--her family loves to babysit and buy toys for her baby, Emily. Finally, after a disastrous night spent in the emergency room when Max cuts his hand, Sam becomes defeated. How much longer can he keep up this crazy schedule of school and fatherhood? Yet, how can he bear not to keep it up, when giving it up means giving up Max? With this kind of subject matter, it would be easy for seasoned author Margaret Bechard to slip into didactic "after-school special" mode. Instead she has penned a truly tender, reversed-gender tearjerker with an ending as realistic as it is heartbreaking. A four-hankie recommended read. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
Product Description
It's Sam Pettigrew's last year of high school. And he's spending it figuring out how, at age seventeen, he is supposed to care for his baby son, Max.Max wasn't part of the plan. He wasn't even part of the backup plan. But he's here now, and Sam is attending an alternative high school with other teen parents like himself. Talk about a wake-up call. But Sam is determined to make it work, to show everyone -- his dad, his new girlfriend, himself -- that he has what it takes to be a good dad. Trading footballs for diaper bags and college brochures for feeding schedules, Sam gives fatherhood his best shot. Only no one told him it would be this hard. What if his best isn't good enough?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 This Book Was So Great - Finished it in less than a day! March 4, 2007
I was a bit hesitant at first to read this book, because I didn't want it to be a cliche teenage pregnancy story. But, I proved myself wrong after reading less than a page. I knew this story would hold a special place in my heart - And now that I've finished it, it does.
Without leaking too much of the plot, Sam [The main character and father of baby Max] is dealing with so much stress. I loved how the book went back and forth from present day text, discussing what was going on at that moment, and then the next chapter was a flashback which helped you understand a bit of Sam's thoughts and actions.
The ending of this story wanted to make me cry, I am positive it will tug at your heart strings as well. If you're looking for a story that involves mature, life changing decisions and a different kind of love story, then Hanging Onto Max is your answer.
Hanging on to Max Review June 1, 2006
"Hanging on to Max" is a novel about a teenage single parent who has a young son. Sam is 17 years old and his son in Max. Sam has a hard life he is trying to juggle a million different schedules he has to go to school, do his homework, take care of Max, and hang out with friends. Sam finds out that its hard to take care of his son and try to do things that normal high school students do. Sam feels it is too hard to take care of Max so Sam decides to give Max up for adoption in the end. Sam gives Max up for adoption because he doesn't want Max to make the same mistakes he did and he wants Max to have a better life than he did. That is a quick summary on the novel "Hanging on to Max."
I liked this book a lot, I liked this novel because it can relate to many high school student's lives. It can show high school students how hard it is to take care of a baby and try to do normal high school things. I feel every high school students should read this book because it shows us how much your life will change if you have a child. I loved this book but it was a little jumpy because the author would jump from the present to the past and back to the present. I liked this novel and feel all high school students should read this book. This novel is a great novel and everyone should read it.
 Hanging on to Max June 1, 2006
The book Hanging On To Max is a great book by Margret Bechard. The book is about a teenage boy named sam who is trying to raise a baby boy named Max. max's mother , Brittany, put him up for adoption and sam could not bare to let him go, so sam took the resposiblity to take Max and raise him all alone. At only the age of seven-teen, sam is still attending school and taking care of rasing Max. max and sam go through so much together because Max comes first. He is sam's biggest priority. Having a baby is tuff enough, but going to school and still living a teenage like is much harder. In the story sam meets his high school crush again. Her name is Claire Bailey. She also has a new baby as a teenager and her boyfriend is no longer around to help. Claire and sam are stuck in the same boat, both alone with little kids. They then being doing things together. As a whole they have fun, them and the kids. They go through many obsticals leading up to sam deciding that he must give Max up for adoption. Sam is a young kid who was not ready for the resposibilty of a new son. He had fun with him and Max together, but he does the better for him so he doesn't make the same mistakes he did.
A Good Read June 1, 2006
My group read the novel, Hanging on to Max. This book was about a teenage guy, named Sam, whose girlfriend had gotten pregnant. She decided to give the baby up for adoption and before Sam could even think it through, he told her he would keep the baby. Throughout the novel, you get to see how much a baby really does affect your life. Sam could no longer play sports or hang out with friends. He had to go to an alternative school, where he could bring Max with him. Sam did not realize how hard it would be to finish high school and raise a child at the same time. His dreams of college had faded away and getting a job to pay for his expenses was his main priority. Sam also has to face his disappointed father at different times in the book. The end of the story can be left for you to read!
This novel really does have an important message for all teenagers. It shows you what a little mistake could do and how one life can change dramatically in the blink of an eye. This novel also helps people appreciate teenage parents. A lot of people look down at them because they have a child at a young age. Well, everyone makes mistakes. It gives people a new respect for how hard teen-parents work and the struggles they go through. I think this was a really great book and everyone should read it!
Great Book June 1, 2006
In the beginning of Hanging onto Max, Sam is talking about how he had to change schools after taking custody of Max from Brittany. Sam has to take more responsibility at the age of 17 then he could ever imagine. In the middle of the book, Sam decides he is going to take the SAT's and got a great score on them. Sam feels as if he is a disappointment to his father and to Max. In the end, Sam is having second thoughts and wants Max to grow up with two parents and be cared for the way he deserves it.
In my opinion, Hanging onto Max was a great book. It always had my attention because it was completely realistic. Teenage parents in real life go through the same exact thing everyday, and it is just amazing to read about it or watch it.
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