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FOLLOW YOUR ARROW by Jessica Verdi

FOLLOW YOUR ARROW

by Jessica Verdi

Pub Date: March 2nd, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64046-5
Publisher: Scholastic

Known to their fans as #Cevie, CeCe and Silvie are girlfriends and teen fashion influencers on an Instagram-like app.

However, bisexual CeCe’s online and real-life worlds are upended when Silvie ends their relationship and CeCe soon finds herself attracted to a boy from whom she keeps her online life a secret. For more than two years, CeCe has followed Silvie’s lead, to the point of squelching her own political voice to amass followers, likes, and sponsorships. CeCe, who lives with her mother and is estranged from her conservative father, admits she is addicted to social media and worries about losing followers and navigating cancel culture. When she meets Josh, an internet-shunning violinist who goes to a different Cincinnati high school, she decides to hide her online fame while exploring her feelings for him. The novel frames solid debates about the pros and cons of social media in believable dialogue while app posts at the end of every chapter cleverly illustrate what is happening in CeCe’s online life. In this first-person novel, the personal and political issues around CeCe’s bisexuality are deftly handled. Typical high school experiences like prom and awkward encounters with exes are seamlessly woven into the plot—with a rainbow twist. CeCe and Josh are White; Silvie is Mexican American.

A page-turning exploration of the perils of social media and the complexities of sexuality.

(Fiction. 13-18)