Killing Time

Unlike most teenage girls, Jelly enjoys school and particularly likes when they have to give oral book reports, and she also loves her English teacher Miss Anna Myers. Jelly wants to go to college like she and Miss Myers had discussed, but her dad, Jake, says it is a waste of money and time for a girl to go to college. Besides, he doesn’t have the money anyway.

While dealing with thoughts of her future, she must also deal with the youthful feelings of love. Knowing that her boyfriend, Jerry Don, would be leaving in a couple of days for boot camp, Jelly wants to spend time with him and his magic hands. She’s never felt this way before and being only sixteen, she knows she isn’t the type of girl to go all the way. She just didn’t realize how their passion would overrule her common sense, and a couple weeks later she knows why she was scared to go all the way, Jelly is pregnant. She is scared, but she is also finding out she has some really good friends; Mattie, Louella, and her old teacher, Anna Myers would stick by her and help her in anyway they can. Married and relegated to a rental house, just to have her baby alone when her husband deploys, Jelly is at a loss. Instead of a future, Jelly soon feels as if she is Killing Time. Will her dreams die, or will she discover new dreams?

Ms. Woods has written a tale of a young teenage girl during the 1960's and the ordeal of being pregnant and without her husband, but with the love of her friends and family. The author's attention to detail will take the reader back to that time in their life when life seemed to be only about what boy liked you and what you were going to wear to school. Jelly is a character the readers will love and want to wrap their arms around to help her deal with all that is going on in her life and around her. Read this touching story to find out how Jelly learns the lesson of love, friendship and the strength she has in her own right.

Reviewed by: Donna