Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

The novel Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown is about a girl who makes a very wrong decision in sending out a nude picture to her boyfriend. After the two break up he sends the photo to one of his friends, who then sends it out to the whole school. This results in her having to do community service and getting bullied by people at her school. It also results in her making a new friend, Mack, who helps her realize her true self.

In this novel, the author creates a melancholy writing style. Throughout the novel, Ashleigh (the main character) gets bullied a lot about the photo she sent. This creates the melancholy writing style because it puts a somber mood over the text. One instance is where a student at her school calls her out for “looking different.” He has seen the photo and was trying to make fun of her in front of the school. “’You look good today. Something’s different, though. What is it?’ … I narrowed my eyes at him, but even I could feel that my will wasn’t really behind it. I was going for hateful but was probably only achieving beggary. Please don’t say anything, please don’t say anything.” Another instance is when Ashleigh finds out that one of her friends was the one that attached her name and number to the photo that was going around. Ashleigh is so upset about this and she doesn’t believe what she’s hearing. “’[Rachel’s] the one who attached your name and phone number to the text.’ … I didn’t have any words. … My mind whirled. … I was still humiliated and would still have to face my parents. I would still have to face everyone at school again eventually.” Through these moments in the text, the author is able to create a melancholy writing style that makes the reader feel sympathetic toward Ashleigh.

My favorite scene in the novel is when Ashleigh leads Mack back to the tunnel to write her name on the wall.  "I opened my backpack and pulled out a small can of silver spray paint ... Mack didn't say anything, just grinned ... I was not my mistakes. I was not defined by anyone else. Only I got to say who I was. ... I pressed the trigger and drew a big, loopy, celebratory "A"." I really like this part because it is in this moment she realizes the names she has been called don't define her. The author gives the audience a great sense of anticipation in which I thought was an excellent way to end this novel.

I would recommend this book to others. I really enjoyed how the author would change each chapter form past story telling to present story telling. It made the novel a lot more suspenseful because you would want to read on after every chapter to know what happens next in each story telling.