Dear Medusa

December 15, 2022
A 16-year-old survives her junior year of high school despite a sexually abusive teacher, vicious whispers from her classmates, and the splintering of her family. "This world is full of wolves," Alicia Rivers says, introducing the theme that will carry her and her readers through a tumultuous year. She walks the halls of her school hounded by whispers and jagged memories. Dazzling with clarity, blistering with anger, her gaze sweeps over monsters disguised as decent men and teenage girls forced into mythic archetypes. With time, however, and the stubborn kindness of new friends, Alicia, who is White and bisexual, rediscovers sisterhood and herself. There's asexual Deja, full of humor and insight, whose Blackness brings an additional layer of assumptions and suffocating double standards. There's Pakistani and White Geneva, who is a mystery cloaked in sunshine and a romance waiting to happen. In shimmering verse, Cole breathes life into each young woman; Deja's character is developed beyond her role in supporting Alicia's growing racial awareness. A girls' discussion group led by Dr. Kareem, a local academic, offers another avenue for conversation and exploration. The specter of predatory men is ever present but never overshadows the complexity and strength of young women fighting to weave their own stories. Their conversations are varied, from the erasure of some queer identities to the intersections of racism and sexism to grief and mourning one's childhood. This book is as wide in scope as it is economical in its language. Illuminating. (Verse fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from January 23, 2023
Cole (The Truth About White Lies) pens a dynamic portrait of one teenager confronting trauma surrounding her sexual assault in this intense verse novel inspired by the Greek tragedy of Medusa. When 16-year-old white Alicia Rivers’s religious best friend Sarah, also white, finds out Alicia has had sex, she terminates their friendship, resulting in slut-shaming from her peers. Home offers no refuge, as Alicia contends with her emotionally absent mother and brother. She finds solace in her food service job’s mundane repetition, even as she struggles with a painful secret: that a widely beloved high school teacher sexually assaulted her. Blossoming friendships with charismatic Deja, who is Black, and gentle new student Geneva, who is Pakistani and white, set Alicia on a path toward healing, until she begins receiving anonymous letters revealing that she’s not the teacher’s only victim—and that someone else plans to step forward. Citing how abusers often leverage societal protection, emotionally raw verse critically portrays one teenager’s experience dealing with the aftermath of assault, and provides a sharp look into cultures built on oppressing survivors’ voices. Rendering the racially- and sexuality-inclusive female cast as both vulnerable and fierce, Cole boldly examines agency, bodily autonomy, and internalized misogyny. Ages 14–up. Agent: Patrice Caldwell, New Leaf Literary.

March 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 Alicia Rivers learned years ago that the world is full of wolves. Since she hit puberty, Alicia has been sexually harassed by older men--men who should, by all accounts, know better. But Alicia has never had protection from the wolves; her world is ripped apart when she is sexually assaulted by a beloved teacher at her school, and she spirals out of control. Alicia finds herself having to reconstruct her broken identity by finding a space where she can let down her walls and finally speak her truth. Cole's novel in verse is a raw and uncompromising view into the sexualization of young women. She peels back the layers of Alicia's trauma, fully immersing us in a world where we are cradled in Alicia's pain and then her subtle pinpricks of joy. This story's haunting parallel to the Greek Medusa's own often-misremembered myth helps give voice to young women who often find themselves voiceless.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from March 1, 2023

Gr 10 Up-A heartbreaking story of a high school student struggling in the aftermath of a sexual assault by a beloved teacher. Alicia is about to begin her junior year at Marshall High School, but she'd rather be anywhere else in the world. Between the nasty comments from her classmates, her best friend deserting her, and trying to avoid the hallway where "it" happened, Marshall is not a safe place for Alicia. She often lashes out at teachers and spends much of her time in in-school suspension, and after school she participates in risky behavior with classmates and sometimes older men that she's just met. But when Alicia finds notes in her locker suggesting there is another victim of The Colonel, she starts to question her life and behavior. Written in verse, this tale is one of a girl finding her way back to herself. Cole's prose is beautiful, thought-provoking, and filled with emotion. Alicia's character is complex and secondary characters are also well-developed. This novel is one that readers won't put down willingly. Alicia is white, her friend Deja is Black, and Alicia's love interest is from Pakistan. There is some LGBTQIA+ representation, with one character identifying as asexual and Alicia is bisexual. VERDICT A first purchase for high school libraries.-Lisa Buffi

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2023
For troubled sixteen-year-old Alicia, the past year has been one of betrayal (she was cut out of her best friend's life "like a tumor"), parental divorce and dysfunction, and social isolation and slut-shaming. Sexual assault by a revered teacher has thrown her into a personal and academic tailspin, leaving her enraged and disillusioned with the adult world. Only through connections with new friends and with a girls' discussion group is Alicia able to see beyond her psychic pain and forge a stronger, healthier sense of self. Racial and cultural awareness (Alicia is white; new friend Deja is Black; another new friend, Geneva, is Pakistani and white) and the highlighting of multiple forms of sexuality and the power of women supporting women help broaden the story's scope beyond its indictment of pervasive predatory male behavior. Alicia's visceral first-person free-verse narrative, full of acerbic and angry barbs, makes for difficult reading at times. Readers are privy to all that she is processing, including her destructive choices and her inability to ask for the support she needs. Interspersed letters to the mythological Medusa express Alicia's modern-day emotions: "A woman doesn't get... / so mad that her hair turns to snakes / so mad that her rage turns blood to boulder / so mad that she withdraws into a cave and dares the world to follow / all on her own." Being able to sit down with compassionate peers and talk about things makes a world of difference. Luann Toth

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2023
For troubled sixteen-year-old Alicia, the past year has been one of betrayal (she was cut out of her best friend's life "like a tumor"), parental divorce and dysfunction, and social isolation and slut-shaming. Sexual assault by a revered teacher has thrown her into a personal and academic tailspin, leaving her enraged and disillusioned with the adult world. Only through connections with new friends and with a girls' discussion group is Alicia able to see beyond her psychic pain and forge a stronger, healthier sense of self. Racial and cultural awareness (Alicia is white; new friend Deja is Black; another new friend, Geneva, is Pakistani and white) and the highlighting of multiple forms of sexuality and the power of women supporting women help broaden the story's scope beyond its indictment of pervasive predatory male behavior. Alicia's visceral first-person free-verse narrative, full of acerbic and angry barbs, makes for difficult reading at times. Readers are privy to all that she is processing, including her destructive choices and her inability to ask for the support she needs. Interspersed letters to the mythological Medusa express Alicia's modern-day emotions: "A woman doesn't get... / so mad that her hair turns to snakes / so mad that her rage turns blood to boulder / so mad that she withdraws into a cave and dares the world to follow / all on her own." Being able to sit down with compassionate peers and talk about things makes a world of difference.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)