Viral

March 15, 2011
Grades 10-1 Packed with drama, this entry in Orcas Soundings line of books for reluctant readers is intense. Mike has been best friends with his high-school classmate, Lindsay, since childhood, but now, suddenly, things have changed and they feel sparks of attraction to one another. Mike is too shy to make a move, though, and when Lindsay sees the class flirt kissing Mike and jumps to conclusions, he screws up as he tries to tell her how he feels about her. Then he blames himself when Lindsay, drunk and high on Ecstasy at a party, is raped by a popular kid, who gets his friend to film it all on a camera phone. When the video goes viral throughout school, Lindsay attempts suicide. Told in simple prose, the violence is graphic, but not the sex, and there is no obscenity. Many teens will be drawn to the contemporary high-school story about enemies, friends, and lovers that explores headline issues.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2011
When a misunderstanding destroys the budding romance between Mike and Lindsay, she reacts by becoming part of the "fast crowd." Just as a sex video of her at a party is about to go viral, Mike steps in. The topical, titillating subject matter may draw reluctant teen readers, but the stiff writing and clichid characters do them no favors.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)