This searing and intimate novel in verse follows a sixteen-year-old girl coping with sexual abuse as she grapples with how to reclaim her story, her anger, and her body in a world that seems determined to punish her for the sin of surviving. "This is more than a story about sexual violence—this book is about race, sexuality, love, and how anger can be a catalyst for healing." —Gabrielle Union, bestselling author, actress, and producer Sixteen-year-old Alicia Rivers has a reputation that precedes her. But there’s more to her story than the whispers that follow her throughout the hallways at school—whispers that splinter into a million different insults that really mean: a girl who has had sex. But what her classmates don't know is that Alicia was sexually abused by a popular teacher, and that trauma has rewritten every cell in her body into someone she doesn't recognize. To the world around her, she’s been cast, like the mythical Medusa, as not the victim but the monster of her own story: the slut who asked for it. Alicia was abandoned by her best friend, quit the track team, and now spends her days in detention feeling isolated and invisible. When mysterious letters left in her locker hint at another victim, Alicia struggles to keep up the walls she's built around her trauma. At the same time, her growing attraction to a new girl in school makes her question what those walls are really keeping out. "[This] fierce and brightly burning feminist roar…paints a devastating and haunting portrait of a vulnerable young woman discovering the power of her voice, her courage, and her rage." —Samira Ahmed, New York Times bestselling author of Internment and Hollow Fires Gr 10 Up-A heartbreaking story of a high school student struggling in the aftermath of a sexual assault by a beloved teacher. Alicia is about to begin her junior year at Marshall High School, but she'd rather be anywhere else in the world. Between the nasty comments from her classmates, her best friend deserting her, and trying to avoid the hallway where "it" happened, Marshall is not a safe place for Alicia. She often lashes out at teachers and spends much of her time in in-school suspension, and after school she participates in risky behavior with classmates and sometimes older men that she's just met. But when Alicia finds notes in her locker suggesting there is another victim of The Colonel, she starts to question her life and behavior. Written in verse, this tale is one of a girl finding her way back to herself. Cole's prose is beautiful, thought-provoking, and filled with emotion. Alicia's character is complex and secondary characters are also well-developed. This novel is one that readers won't put down willingly. Alicia is white, her friend Deja is Black, and Alicia's love interest is from Pakistan. There is some LGBTQIA+ representation, with one character identifying as asexual and Alicia is bisexual. VERDICT A first purchase for high school libraries.-Lisa Buffiα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Two starred reviews • NYPL Top Ten Teen Books of the year • SLJ Best Book of the Year • Bank Street Best Book of the Year • YALSA Top Ten Title • ALA Rainbow List title • TAYSHAS Reading List Top Ten • LA Times Book Prize Finalist • Florida Teen Reads List "This novel focuses less on re-examining the Medusa myth and more on channeling the archetypal energies of Medusa’s story, exploring how victims are commonly cast out and what it takes for them to reclaim their power. Dear Medusa is a heavy read, but a necessary one .” — The New York Times ★ "Emotionally raw verse critically portrays one teenager’s experience dealing with the aftermath of assault, and provides a sharp look into cultures built on oppressing survivors’ voices.... both vulnerable and fierce , Cole boldly examines agency, bodily autonomy, and internalized misogyny." —Publishers Weekly, starred review ★ "Cole’s prose is beautiful, thought-provoking, and filled with emotion ....This novel is one that readers won’t put down willingly." — School Library Journal , starred review " Dazzling with clarity, blistering with anger ....In shimmering verse, Cole breathes life into each young woman....This book is as wide in scope as it is economical in its language. Illuminating ." —Kirkus Reviews " Cole’s novel in verse is a raw and uncompromising view into the sexualization of young women. She peels back the layers of Alicia’s trauma, fully immersing us in a world where we are cradled in Alicia’s pain and then her subtle pinpricks of joy." —Booklist “Racial and cultural awareness…and the highlighting of multiple forms of sexuality and the power of women supporting women help broaden the story’s scope.” — Horn Book Review “A #MeToo novel-in-verse that tackles purity culture, slut-shaming, and female rage all while honoring survivors with a plot that centers the healing jou