Backlash

January 12, 2015
An online crush who isn’t what he seems pushes a fragile 15-year-old named Lara to the brink of self-destruction,
and her former best friend Bree is there
to document her collapse like a Facebook-posting paparazzo. But as the police investigate Lara’s suicide attempt and the town becomes embroiled in the incident, Lara’s tormentors become targets. Working in the same vein as she did in Want to Go Private?, Littman pens a raw, frighteningly realistic, and absorbing look at cyberbullying and the damaging effects of airing private trauma in a public forum. By telling the story from the shifting viewpoints of key characters, Littman honestly examines the conflicting ways people can view a single situation. In passages written in the voice of Lara’s younger sister, Sydney, readers get an unflinching, firsthand account of Sydney’s struggle to cope with feeling like her own aspirations are being ignored, while the real villain, Bree’s unscrupulous mother, emerges as much more than a self-involved woman trying to live out her high school fantasies through her daughter. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

December 15, 2014
Cyberbullying and a suicide attempt, told from four first-person perspectives.The dramatic opening finds 15-year-old Lara, "numb with hurt and panic," talking online with a boy named Christian, her first romance, though she knows him only online. He's calling her awful, terrible, a loser he'd never take to a dance. "The world would be a better place without you in it," he types and promptly blocks her. Next, Lara's sister, Sydney, an eighth-grader, pounds on a locked door behind which Lara has overdosed. As emergency workers carry Lara out on a stretcher, next-door neighbor Bree (also 15) snaps a pic and posts it to Facebook, reveling in the many "likes" it draws. The timeline rewinds two months; Lara, Syd, Bree and Bree's eighth-grade brother, Liam, alternate narrating. The two families used to be close, and Bree and Lara even used to be good friends. The prose is smooth, though the piece overall is more about ideas-cyberbullying and suicide-than any unique characterization of these white, suburban teens. The parents range from self-centered to actively cruel-Bree's mother helps Bree fool and taunt Lara-and even Syd repeatedly considers her sister's pain to be "drama." The four-narrator structure isn't entirely emotionally illuminating: Bree never quite makes sense as a character even in her own chapters. More conceptual than distinct, but accessible and potentially useful. (author's note) (Fiction. 12-16)

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December 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-For sophomore Lara Kelly, things are finally looking up-she's feeling more confident after losing weight and she made the varsity cheerleading team, which she never would have imagined two years earlier when she was overweight and severely depressed. Best of all, Lara has caught the attention of a cute guy on Facebook, and he has been hinting at asking her to the homecoming dance. But when she sees horrible comments from her crush on social media, she spirals into a dangerous mental state and suicide seems like the only escape. Bree is Lara's former best friend from middle school, but they drifted apart when Bree couldn't take Lara's depression and self-involvement. The new Lara is suddenly getting everything that Bree is supposed to have-the popularity, and even the spot on the cheer team. Sydney and Liam are the younger siblings, who are caught up in the horror of a tragic event, and trying to figure out how to cope with their siblings' issues while living their own lives. This novel thoughtfully balances the four alternating perspectives, giving an element of humanity even to the perpetrators of severe bullying while maintaining a strong moral judgment. The writing and pace may not be compelling enough for reluctant readers, and there are disturbing scenes portraying bullying and severe depression. However, it's an accessible complement to an anti-bullying curricula that would serve as a good starting point for discussion of ethics with teens. Share with fans of Lane Davis's I Swear (S. & S. 2012).-Tara Kron, School Library Journal

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2015
Grades 7-10 Overweight Lara was bullied and depressed in middle school. Now a sophomore, 30 pounds lighter, her life has turned around. She made the cheer team and has new friends, plus a hot boy from another school is interested in her via Facebook. Her ex-BFF Bree, who ended their friendship two years earlier when Lara's depression got in the way, is now angry after being bumped from the cheer team. When the FB boy suddenly posts devastatingly hurtful things about Lara, it sends her over the edge and into a world where she believes suicide is the only answer. Thoughtfully told from the perspectives of Lara, Bree, and their younger siblings, this is a powerful and credible story that illustrates the perils of immature decisions and explores the wide-reaching ripple effect of destructive actions thought by the perpetrators as fun. Innocents affected also suffer real anguish, and bullying by association. The depression and bullying are handled realistically without sugarcoating, and fortunately, consequences are applied. An excellent choice for any antibullying campaign, it complements Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why (2007) and Cornered: 14 Stories of Bullying and Defiance (2012).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)