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Review: THOUSAND WORDS by Janenifer Brown

Thousand Words by Janenifer Brown
Published: Little, Brown (May 21st, 2013)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 282 pages
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary:
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 Janenifer 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.

Review:


Incredible story! I think this is a must-read for all young girls and boys. It shows the consequences for both when sexting occurs. I remember seeing a very similar case on TV one day where the 18 year old boyfriend was charged and will forever be listed as a sex offender. I never realized till then that a charge like that could happen from sharing a photo.

I think that many teens are unaware as well. Janenifer Brown did a terrific job showing what can happen and how it does alter the lives of all involved.

In this book, Ashleigh is dealing with the consequences of sending a single nude photo to her boyfriend while at a party. She wanted him to know she loved him and that he shouldn't forget about her while he's at college. Her friends pushed her to do it and she surprised everyone by going through with it. But then her and her boyfriend have a horrible breakup and her picture ends up all over school.

After a while, everyone knows about the photo-- including teachers and everyone in town — and what Ashleigh did. Even though she has to go through all of the consequences of the photo as she loses all her friends and the respect from others, she also has a punishment to face. She has to do a community service project to help show teens what can happen to them if they make the same mistakes she did.

I'm a huge fan of romance in a book but you won't find that here. It isn't what this story needed and I applaud Janenifer for leaving it out. For this book, the character needed to tell her story and get stronger by spreading the word about something that so many teens do. It's truly a cautionary tale that so many teens need to read.

This book also shows how something so simple changes many lives. The boyfriend, Kaleb, has to deal with the fact that he is 18 and forwarded a naked photo of an underage girl. That carries a lot of heavy consequences that people usually don't consider. I was happy to see that we really get to see the full picture of what happens in these situations… before, during, and after it occurs.

I highly recommend this book!!

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Review: THOUSAND WORDS by Janenifer Brown + Thousand Words