Quick Book Review: The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend

Basic Synopsis: A teen conceived through IVF goes in search of answers about her past and finds herself examining what it means to be a family.

Karen’s Quick Thoughts: So this book was fun, heartwarming and enjoyable. It covered a topic I have never seen discussed in YA – kids conceived by donor sperm. 5 teens who are conceived via the same sperm donor track each other down and deal with their emotions as they try to figure out what family means to them.

Also, this is one of the few books that has a teen dealing realistically with severe food allergies. As the parent to a child with food allergies (though none are annaphallactic), I thought this did a good job of addressing the concerns and fears.

This book does mention some statistics and science regarding the psychological challenges of teens who grow up knowing they were conceived via an anonymous sperm donor, so if you were interested more in the idea of teens conceived through anonymous sperm donors here are some interesting articles:

MTV teen meets 15 siblings from sperm-donor dad | New York Post

Teen offspring of anonymous sperm donor find each other

Teenager finds sperm donor dad on internet | Science | The Guardian

I Was Conceived Through a Sperm Bank | Teen Vogue

For more on teens and food allergies, see these TLT posts:

Take 5: YA Lit with Food Allergies

MakerSpace: Rethinking Food in Programming, Again? Yes, Again

Let’s Talk Teens, Food and Programming

Filed under: Book Reviews