Tell Me Everything, written by Sarah Enni, reviewed by Anneliese White

Summary: Ivy is your typical high school sophomore, trying to figure out the social scene and school life, while exploring a new social media app. VEIL allows users to post art images anonymously, only to be seen within a short radius based on users’ locations, and disappearing from the app every Sunday evening. Ivy is a budding artist herself with a talent and interest in photography, and loves VEIL, but is afraid to post anything because she has low self confidence in her work. She appreciates the posts she sees so much, that she starts figuring out who some of the anonymous users are, and wants to show them random acts of kindness to let them know how much she values them. This starts getting her into trouble, as many users want to stay anonymous, and Ivy makes incorrect assumptions about some users. She is also trying to figure out the rift between her and her best friend, Harold, who seems to be distant and too busy since he got back from college camp this summer. A great read exploring social media and teens, the balance of life in high school, and examining the world of LGBQT+ teens, “Tell Me Everything,” is a highly recommended debut novel. 

Straight Talk for Librarians: This book is a highly recommended choice for the school library shelves. It does such a great job of exploring the First Amendment rights of teenagers when it comes to social media, and countering when anonymity and freedom of speech can become hate speech and needs to be shut down. “Tell Me Everything” explores the weight of emotions that teenagers carry, and how they can work through them in a safe manner. It also does a great job of supporting LGBQT+ rights, as hate speech on the VEIL app features homophobia in the story, opening up lots of discussions with readers. A character then forms a Gay Pride Club, and shows the support the school has for the LGBQT+ community, which would also be a great discussion point with students. This story is written with humor, with a superb protagonist whose story you are sucked into from page one.