The First Part Last follows the story of Bobby, your typical teenaged boy in an urban city, and doesn't seem to have a care in the world. At least, until he learns on his sixteenth birthday that his girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant. This completely changes his world. Told in "then" and "now" sections, The First Part Last tells Bobby's story from learning that Nia is pregnant to what his life is like with a baby at 16. Suddenly, his life revolves around his daughter, and he finds that he no longer has time for the fun things that he used to do, like hanging out with friends and going to parties. The only way for Bobby and Nia to have a normal life is for them to put their baby up for adoption, but once the baby is born, Bobby is no longer sure that this is what he wants to do.

Overall, I think this book is generally a good look at teenage pregnancy, especially from the male perspective. Not many young adult books that are published about this topic take it on from the male point of view, the majority of them deal with what the girl is going through and how it will drastically change her life. I think a lot of people forget that having a baby also changes the life of the guy involved as well, especially if he wants to be involved in his baby's life. Overall, I thought the tone of the novel seemed very mellow, and didn't really seem to be building up to anything. However, I think this worked for the length of the novel, if it was any longer, it might have lost my attention. All in all, I definitely think this is a fairly truthful novel, and a good look into a life that many teenagers hear about, but they don't really know much about.

As for a classroom setting, I think this book would be good to keep n the shelf, but again, I don't really see how it would be taught in a classroom, though it could fit into a health class, when talking about the consequences of sex and the like. But it's also a good novel for teachers to keep on the shelf, for students that may be in the same situation that Bobby finds himself in.