A Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown
Expected Publication: May 21, 2013
Publisher: Little Brown
Ashleigh's boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he'll forget about her while he's away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh's friends suggest she text him a picture of herself -- sans swimsuit -- to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits "send."
But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the attention of the school board, the local police, and the media. As her friends and family try to distance themselves from the scandal, Ashleigh feels completely alone -- until she meets Mack while serving her court-ordered community service. Not only does Mack offer a fresh chance at friendship, but he's the one person in town who received the text of Ashleigh's photo -- and didn't look.
Acclaimed author Jennifer Brown brings readers a gripping novel about honesty and betrayal, redemption and friendship, attraction and integrity, as Ashleigh finds that while a picture may be worth a thousand words . . . it doesn't always tell the whole story.
My Thoughts
Wow! This should be listed as required reading for middle and high school. Relevant, topical and all too real.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
No truer statement than that, especially when it involves a seventeen year-old high school junior who while intoxicated took a picture of herself, sans her clothes, and texted it to her boyfriend. After a nasty breakup, Ashleigh’s ex-boyfriend Kaleb callously forwards the text and her picture only to have it circulate to an entire school and its neighboring districts.
This book tells the story of Ashleigh’s humiliation from this incident and the taunting she received in the aftermath of having her nude photo distributed. There were nasty emails, texts and even message boards on the Internet that forced her to deal with the ramifications of a single moment of lapse in judgement.
There were so many elements to this story that came to the forefront and to capture them all would lead me to go on forever, so I wanted to capitalize on a few that stood out to me.
First being, the cruelty that can be the Internet. It never ceases to amaze me how bold and cruel people can be in a virtual forum when they can conceal their actions and words with the anonymity that the Internet provides. It’s no doubt that the Internet affords cowards with fake courage, but it still saddens me to see the distance to which some will go. This story did a great job in showing how virtual bullying is rampant, real… and most of all hurtful.
Second, it was a rude wake-up call to witness the ramifications and criminal side to sexting. A portion of the book centers on the consequences of their actions. We’re talking school suspension, being kicked off a sports team, a parent possibly losing their job over his daughter’s actions, an ex-boyfriend being charged as an adult sex offender for distributing a minor’s revealing photo, the list goes on! It’s no joke… so just don’t do it.
Lastly, there was a level of substance that I appreciated in the story. As much as I faulted Ashleigh for her stupid mistake, I equally admired her resolve to face the consequences to her actions. The strength she showed after losing faith in your friends and family for support was inspiring. I appreciated her dedication to her community service at Teen Talk and I felt she shared a worthy story with the right amount of remorse and character growth.
Overall, this book is topical, it’s relevant, and it’s real. I highly recommend this to YA Contemporary readers that are looking for a story with substance and truth. It caught and kept my attention. Well done!!
READ THIS BEFORE ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY!!!
Okay, I have something to confess... First let me say that I have read thousands of books and my precious novels have always been well taken care of and in MINT condition. Well, something horrible happened while I was reading this book.... ~deep sigh~ ...I spilled some water on my copy of this book Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown. ~runs in shame~
So before you enter, I want you to know that there is a small part of the book that was exposed to water. I am extremely mortified that I allowed this to happen... It's a first for me. :( So if you're okay with receiving a very adored yet slightly bruised copy of this book, please fill out the rafflecopter for a chance to win. If you'd like to reprimand me on my poor book handling skills or even share a horror story of your own to make me feel better... comment away my friends. :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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