From the New York Times- bestselling author of The 57 Bus comes Accountable , a propulsive and thought-provoking new young adult narrative nonfiction book about the revelation of a racist social media account that changes everything for a group of high school students and begs the What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?
When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as “edgy” humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew.
Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults―educators and parents―whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse.
In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left Where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean?
Award-winning and New York Times –bestselling author Dashka Slater has written a must-read book for our era that explores the real-world consequences of online choices.
Ok, this was partly my fault; the blurb I got when I picked this book didn't mention that it's non fiction, so I was a bit surprised when I started reading! Once I got over that, I really enjoyed this read. Dashka mentions in the foreward that she did several years of research, and it shows. Everything is meticulously recorded from several angles.
However, this meticulousness does slow things down a little...this isn't a short book, and the account is discovered very early on, leaving us with a long way to go through the accusations and recriminations. There is also a very detached tone throughout, probably to keep from showing favoritism to either side, but ... to me, at least ... it just leads to odd scenes like a car being attacked by angry students without any emotional impact. However, that's just my opinion on it!
It's definitely a really interesting read and I did think it was a good idea, having all the different POVs; we normally get stories like this from one side or the other, not balanced like this, so it makes for a much more rounded read. The book, or perhaps excerpts from it, would be great in a class on racism or social media and the pressures it can cast on people.
Intriguing and a great look at different thought processes.
Accountable publishes on the 22nd August, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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