In Case You Missed It

August 29, 2016
As she did in Backlash and Want to Go Private?, Littman crafts an unnerving cautionary tale about misplaced digital trust and illusions of privacy. Amid Occupy-style protests, 16-year-old Sammy Wallach’s journal becomes collateral damage when hackers target her bank CEO father and gain access to the family’s cloud storage. Sammy is mortified when her classmates learn about her crush, her best friends give her the silent treatment, and her parents ground her for the lies she told to cover up a night out; she also learns that her parents have been keeping secrets of their own. Sammy’s voice, captured in straight narration and journal entries, is authentic and full of wit, whether she’s griping about her parents, aka “the Fossils,” or using slangy portmanteaus like “snarkasm.” The fallout from the hack raises important questions about bigotry, secret selves, and the multifaceted roles people assume in different areas of their lives, but the book’s exploration of these and other topics is quashed by a pressing health matter and Sammy’s overexposure, muddling the book’s takeaway somewhat. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary.

Uber-good-girl Sammy Wallach did not deserve this. The white, Jewish girl had been the "poster child for responsibility," getting good grades, practicing driving, prepping for SATs and AP exams. Yet when her father's company, New Territories Bank Corporation, gets hacked and her father's racist, sexist emailed remarks exposed, all her plans are thrown off course. With her family's scandal flooding the headlines, she cannot bear the thought of walking the halls of Brooklawne High. The prospect of dealing with her worrisome mother, killjoy little brother, and distant father instead propels her to face the awkward moments anyway. At least her dog, Scruffles, doesn't mind the drama. After the hackers release a second round of leaks, Sammy's journal--and her own narrow-minded remarks--is uploaded for the entire world to read. Abandoned by her best friends and ridiculed by classmates, Sammy struggles to find something to look forward to. Littman ably develops Sammy through her confrontations with her family's secrets. The revelations of her and her dad's prejudices are handled in a way that could be considered either underwhelming or disappointingly realistic: Sammy's confrontation with her father is uncomfortable, and it doesn't end in a rallying cry for justice. But the Wallachs are moving in the right direction, though many readers may think at too slow a pace. An unexpectedly layered story of slow awakening and redemption. (Fiction. 12-16) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

Gr 7 Up-Sammy Wallach is a goal-oriented teen who has monumental plans for the end of her junior year in high school. Lie to her parents and sneak out to the city to see her favorite band? Check. Finally get the boy of her dreams to ask her to prom? Check. Rock her driver's ed test? Check. Everything is falling into place, until her world comes crashing down right before her eyes. The bank her father runs is attacked by hackers who have an activist agenda and steal everything in her family's private cloud network, including Sammy's journal. As a result, her entire digital life-emails, texts, and photos-is exposed for everyone to see and read. Now Sammy's best friends aren't speaking to her because of things that she wrote. The boy of her dreams thinks she is desperate instead of flirty. As if that weren't bad enough, her parents find out all of the lies that she has been telling to get her way. But Sammy soon learns that she is not the only one in her family who has been keeping secrets, and that realization turns out to be more painful than the lies that she so desperately tried to keep hidden. This work may spark some interesting conversations on Internet safety and the ramifications of anonymous digital posting. VERDICT An easy, fun read for fans of light fiction and of the author's previous novels.-Amy Caldera, Dripping Springs Middle School, TX

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2016
Ubergood-girl Sammy Wallach did not deserve this. The white, Jewish girl had been the poster child for responsibility, getting good grades, practicing driving, prepping for SATs and AP exams. Yet when her father's company, New Territories Bank Corporation, gets hacked and her fathers racist, sexist emailed remarks exposed, all her plans are thrown off course. With her family's scandal flooding the headlines, she cannot bear the thought of walking the halls of Brooklawne High. The prospect of dealing with her worrisome mother, killjoy little brother, and distant father instead propels her to face the awkward moments anyway. At least her dog, Scruffles, doesn't mind the drama. After the hackers release a second round of leaks, Sammy's journaland her own narrow-minded remarksis uploaded for the entire world to read. Abandoned by her best friends and ridiculed by classmates, Sammy struggles to find something to look forward to. Littman ably develops Sammy through her confrontations with her family's secrets. The revelations of her and her dad's prejudices are handled in a way that could be considered either underwhelming or disappointingly realistic: Sammys confrontation with her father is uncomfortable, and it doesnt end in a rallying cry for justice. But the Wallachs are moving in the right direction, though many readers may think at too slow a pace. An unexpectedly layered story of slow awakening and redemption. (Fiction. 12-16)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.