NICK Hornby certainly isn't the first author to tackle the subject of teenage pregnancy from the male point of view, but few could match his ability to portray the thought processes of a naive 15-yearold who, like his girlfriend, thinks of sex as "something he ought to try" without once considering the consequences.

Sam, however, ought to know better, since his own mother had him at the tender age of 16 and he's always been aware of how it has restricted their life chances.

Inevitably the worst happens and his girlfriend Alicia falls pregnant; and inevitably her staunchly respectable parents blame his unstable background and lack of class. But when Sam and Alicia decide to keep the baby and raise it together, the parents rally round and everyone manages to retrieve some happiness from the wreckage.

This is a compelling read, written in Hornby's irresistibly informal style and bound to make all youngsters who pass through its pages stop and think about their own love lives.

(Age 13+)