Thousand Words

When Ashleigh texts a naked picture of herself to her college-bound boyfriend, Kaleb, at an end-of-summer party before her junior year, she has no idea what she has unleashed. After an ugly breakup, Kaleb passes the picture around, and it immediately goes viral. Ashleigh is rapidly ridiculed, vilified, suspended, arrested, and sentenced to community service for distributing child pornography. Her father’s job as superintendent hangs in the balance, and her relationship with both parents is in tatters. Chapters move between Ashleigh’s present time in community service, where she creates anti-sexting PSAs and makes a much-needed ally, and the photo scandal as it unfolds in the past, heightening and prolonging the horror as more and more people see the photo, and Ashleigh is relentlessly mocked and harassed. Brown (Bitter End) brings her characteristic raw honesty to this wrenching story, examining the explosive fallout and repercussions of a spontaneous decision without moralizing. Ashleigh’s struggle to accept responsibility and cope with the ways she has been laid bare before her peers is sensitive and genuine. Ages 15–up. Agent: Cori Deyoe, 3 Seas Literary Agency. (May)