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Teenager Phoebe Townsend writes “Circle in the Square,” an informational blog about sex, under the pen name “Pom.” Not even Phoebe’s best friend, Cora, knows unassuming Phoebe (white) is behind it. Phoebe’s goal is to provide reliable answers to readers’ sex-related questions; she’s become a skilled researcher, and the blog is proving far more useful for her peers than the requisite health education class (which avoids mentioning sex as much as possible). Now local mayoral candidate Lydia Brookhurst has decided the blog—and Pom, whom she assumes is an adult and male—are morally corrupting the youth of the community and encouraging them to have sex. Brookhurst’s wealth and influence have far reach. It’s one thing when Neil, Phoebe’s recent crush and her editor on the school paper, reverses his admiration for Pom after making some journalism connections through Brookhurst. But when Phoebe’s mom seems to be wavering—her parents’ small accounting business has a local religious group as a client—it’s a blow. There are vocal supporters of Pom, too, including Cora and high school quarterback Jorge, but when Phoebe is stripped of her anonymity and later doxed, the onslaught of attention and criticism is brutal, challenging many to think deeply about what they believe and how they behave, although change is not a given. This timely, gripping novel isn’t subtle, even as there’s more nuance than the plot alone suggests in a story that plays out in ways that are achingly, sometimes infuriatingly, believable. ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center 

CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 14 and older
Age Range: Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Community Families Friendship Journalism and Media Perspective/Point of View Sex and Sexuality Sex Education Social Media
Diversity subjects: Brown Skin Unspecified Latine

Publisher: Random House
Publish Year: 2022
Pages: 312
ISBN: 9780593310571
CCBC Location: Fiction, Walton

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