Dessen packs a lot into this novel, perhaps too much but Annabel and Owen's finely limned connection alone gives this novel staying power. Comparisons to Melinda, the heroine of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak But since Annabel ' do confrontations,' she swallows the truth until her attacker victimizes someone else. The heroine paints her problem as social ostracism, when really the situation is much more serious. Annabel sharply observes everyone's blinders, including most of her own-with one disturbing exception. Flashbacks reveal that her unwanted status is the result of something that happened with the boyfriend of her ex-best friend, a vicious girl who believes 'everyone had a place and it was her job to make sure you knew yours.' What moves this story beyond problem novel fare is Dessen's nuanced characters, especially hulking Owen, another outcast who, in befriending Annabel, reminds her not to judge by appearances, while steeping her in his eclectic musical tastes. Annabel, who inherited this trait, nevertheless begins her junior year as a pariah. Their mother, Grace, operates in what Annabel wryly calls the 'default Greene family mode,' pretending everything is just fine. When middle sister Whitney follows to pursue a modeling career, the two clash, and Whitney returns home with a full-blown eating disorder. While Annabel tries to forget the past, her older sister, Whitney, deals with anorexia and bulimia. The story follows protagonist Annabel Greene, a 16-year-old model who is isolated at school due to a secret trauma that ended her friendship with Sophie. Oldest sister Kirsten, 'the family powder keg,' has left for New York. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen is a contemporary YA coming-of-age novel published in 2006.

Predictably, the surface perfection masks trouble. Urn:oclc:841314048 Scandate 20110402074639 Scanner Greene, who narrates, lives with her gorgeous sisters in a glass house designed by their architect father, in Dessen's ( This Lullaby

OL15703241W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 94.80 Pages 406 Ppi 514 Related-external-id urn:isbn:1417820160 Urn:lcp:justlisten00dess:epub:3b4437f7-951f-4325-bb99-2cd0b0ed4a5a Extramarc University of Toronto Foldoutcount 0 Identifier justlisten00dess Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t2q53fq6d Isbn 9780142410974Ġ142410977 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Openlibrary_edition Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 01:23:12 Bookplateleaf 0010 Boxid IA132408 Boxid_2 CH113301 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Curatenote shipped Donorīostonpubliclibrary Edition 20.

Just listen by sarah dessen