Plan A - by Deb Caletti (Paperback)

About the Book

Sixteen-year-old Ivy's road trip across the country to get an abortion becomes a transformative journey of vulnerability, strength, and above all, choice.

Book Synopsis

A sixteen-year-old girl's road trip across the country to get an abortion becomes a transformative journey of vulnerability, strength, and above all, choice. From the acclaimed author of A Heart in a Body in the World, this is both an achingly tender love story and a bold, badly needed battle cry about bodily autonomy and the experiences that connect us.

Ivy can't entirely believe it when the plus sign appears on the test. She didn't even know it was possible from . . . what happened. But it is, and now she is, and instead of spending the summer working at the local drugstore and swooning over her boyfriend, Lorenzo, suddenly she's planning a cross-country road trip to her grandmother's house on the West Coast, where she can legally obtain an abortion.

Escaping her small Texas town and the judgment of her friends and neighbors, Ivy hits the road with Lorenzo, who, determined to make the best of their "abortion road trip love story," has transformed the journey into a whirlwind tour of the world: all the way from Paris, Texas, to Rome, Oregon . . . and every rest-stop diner and corny roadside attraction along the way.

And while Ivy can't run from the incessant pressure of others' opinions about her body or from her own expectations and insecurities, she discovers a new world of healing and hope. As the women she encounters share their stories, she chips away at the stigma, silence, and shame surrounding reproductive rights while those collective experiences guide her to her own rightful destination.

Review Quotes

Four starred reviews - SLJ Best Book of the Year - Kirkus Best Book of the Year - Bank Street Best Book of the Year - YALSA Top Ten Title

★ "Brilliant and multilayered; an absolute must-read." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Caletti offers a matter-of-fact exploration of abortion and its use cases, interweaving myriad perspectives on pregnancy and body agency with a deft and nonjudgmental approach." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "Plan A nails several elements, from the true-to-life and engaging voice to the tight handle on the nuance in the people who hold contrasting opinions and even the seemingly contradictory but simultaneously simple and complex issues of all varieties involved in abortion rights....Characters throughout are dynamically painted with detail, as well as Ivy's sharp observations."
--Booklist, starred review

★ "An accessible, powerful portrayal of the importance of choice. A must-read." --School Library Journal, starred review

"Caletti approaches a provocative subject with humanity, nuance, and compassion; here, Ivy's story is deeply personal but also contextualized within women's stories throughout history."
--The Horn Book Review

About the Author

Deb Caletti is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of over twenty books for adults and young adults, including Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, a finalist for the National Book Award; A Heart in a Body in the World, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; Girl, Unframed; and One Great Lie. Her books have also won the Josette Frank Award for Fiction, the Washington State Book Award, and numerous other state awards and honors, and she was a finalist for the PEN USA Award. She lives with her family in Seattle.