Perfect Family [Hardcover]

Jerrie Oughton (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Welcome Marie O'Neal is finally starting to enjoy her 15th year and can't wait to turn 16. She meets Nicholas Canton and, though her parents don't approve, the two start dating. Soon Welcome is head over heels in love and she can't believe it won't last forever. But the romance ends with the summer and when things fall apart, Welcome finds herself confused, heartbroken, and...in trouble. There aren't many people Welcome can turn to for help or advice in her small Southern town in 1955, especially not in her "perfect" family. The decisions Welcome has to make will change her life forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in 1950s small-town North Carolina and narrated by a "good" girl who gets pregnant, this novel would seem to be familiar--except that Oughton's (Music from a Place Called Half Moon) lyrical prose and perceptive characterizations revitalize the plot. The narrator is 15-year-old Welcome (she was named by her older sister, Evelyn Sue, who "wanted me to always know that, even though I was number three, I was certainly welcome"). Bright and unusually ambitious (she wants to be a pediatrician), she struggles with adolescent awkwardness, strict parents and her first heartbreak. On the rebound, she lets a boy she doesn't love have intercourse with her--just once--and she gets pregnant. Her family ships her off to her childless aunt and uncle, which gives Welcome a chance to ponder her future. The characters throughout are memorable; like Welcome, each uniquely combines ordinary vulnerability with unexpected stores of strength. For example, Evelyn Sue runs off to Hollywood in search of her beloved James Dean, but she returns with real wisdom and adult resolve. Mrs. Horn, neighbor to Welcome's aunt and uncle, survived WWII in a prisoner-of-war camp, feeding her infant twins on raw bird's eggs. The pacing is not always consistent; it's Welcome herself, not any inherent dramatic tension, that will hold readers. Ages 10-14. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8-10-Welcome Marie O'Neal, 15, is the baby of her family, growing up in a sleepy North Carolina town in the 1950s. Her mother makes decisions based on what the neighbors will say; Welcome and her older sister can never live up to their father's expectations. Evelyn Sue dreams of a different world and is "in love" with James Dean, and the girls' older brother is busy with a family of his own. The protagonist gives her heart to the young man of her dreams, and, when she is rejected, seeks solace in her newly found sexuality with a friend. When Welcome tells her parents that she is pregnant, they send her away in shame to live with a childless aunt and uncle in Virginia. After a difficult birth and the realization that she cannot properly care for Adam with a part-time job and high school to finish, the teen decides to give him up to her aunt's more capable care and return to school. The last page presents an invitation, from Welcome to Adam and his family, to her graduation from medical school. The idea that if you have a baby at a young age outside of marriage, a willing relative may step in so that you can still follow your dreams is not a particularly constructive fairy tale. A marginal addition for large general collections, where it will be surrounded by some more realistic literature.
Kim Harris, Newman Riga Library, Churchville, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; First edition. edition (April 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395986680
• ISBN-13: 978-0395986684
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,882,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jerrie Preston Oughton, a Georgia native, grew up in North Carolina where she graduated from Broughton High School. The English teacher who inspired noted novelist and Duke University Professor, Reynolds Price, Armistead Maupin, and novelist Anne Tyler, also touched a chord deep within Oughton. Jerrie dedicated her first book, How The Stars Fell Into The Sky to Phyllis Peacock. After graduation from Meredith College, where she was chosen Outstanding Student Teacher of the Year, Oughton taught elementary school in Raleigh.

Literary dreams for Oughton may have begun in Raleigh classrooms in the late 50's, but it took her tenacity to make it pay off almost 40 years later when she became a published author. The Magic Weaver of Rugs, her 2nd book was published spring of 1994 by Houghton Mifflin Co. and was also named by the National Council for Social Studies as one of the notable books of the year. Both picture books were featured in Smithsonian Magazine in their year-end celebration of the best in children's books.

Oughton's first novel for young adults, Music from a Place Called Half Moon, takes place in the mountains of North Carolina. This novel won the 1995 Bank Street College Award for exceptional literature for young people and was nominated for the South Carolina Junior Book Award for 1997-98. The War In Georgia, Jerrie Oughton's second novel for young adults was honored by the American Library Association by being placed on the 1998 list of Recommended Books for Young Adults. Perfect Family, a novel of teen problems, is a favorite among teenage girls. A gripping story of teen love gone awry in the fifties, its subtle message is one of empowerment for young women in today's world.

Since publication of her first book in 1992, Jerrie has made author visits to over three hundred schools and universities in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, and Ohio. Jerrie delights in visiting schools and sharing her message of hope and hard work paying off.

The Good Hostage is Jerrie's first adult novel

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I read it, and I'm 27!, June 15, 2001

By 

Amy (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfect Family (Hardcover)

I happened across this book while at "story time" at our local library with my four year old. I read the inside flaps, and said 'what the heck'? Who was going to know I checked out a book form the kids' section? Perfect Family by Jerrie Oughton was one of the best books I've ever read. I highly recommend it to women of any age. Welcome O'Neal lives in Lily, North Carolina. It's 1955, and any unwed mother gets shipped off to have their babies. Welcome falls in love with a handsome, and older, Nicholas Canton, but her parents are not too fond of the idea. After a drunken Nicholas lets her down at a dance, Welcome, at the young age of 15, becomes pregnant by close friend who will go off to attend NC State University. I won't tell you anymore... I'll just say this is a wonderful book - even to a 27 year old Mom!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Family, May 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Perfect Family (Hardcover)

Sentence by sentence, the writing in PERFECT FAMILY is a pleasure. Chapter to chapter, the story of this book's spunky imperfect heroine is a page turner. PERFECT FAMILY is a kind, sensible, supremely thoughtful treatment of a problem faced by young people ever since Genesis: unplanned pregnancy. Jerrie Oughton tells it straight, and then helps. PERFECT FAMILY shows how trouble can come, shows how serious consequences can be, and shows concrete, realistic ways to deal with these consequences. Along the way, it answers a lot of questions a pregnant girl wants to ask. PERFECT FAMILY does for pre-marital sex what ARE YOU THERE, GOD did for menstruation. I recommend it to every female teenager, and it wouldn't hurt boys to take a look too!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars awesome book!, May 20, 2004

By 

Jaimie (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Perfect Family (Hardcover)

In the beginning, the reason I got this book was actually so that I could do an English project. But soon after I had started reading the book, I found out that I too couldn't put the book down! I had no idea how much I would actually end up reading this book, AND enjoy it. While I was reading the book, I could only image how hard it must of been for Welcome to go through all of these tragedies. Not only does she have an unexpected pregnancy in her early teen years, but she also had to over come family problems at the same time. This book is definately not one of your tipical Young Adult books, were everything is like a story from a fairy tale. I fully agree with the other reviews, were it has been said that it is so realistic, and coinsides to our society today. But I think that's the reason why this book is so good, because it seems you can relate to it more. I definately recommend this book to anyone!