Thousand Words

Ashleigh has never had sex, but she does send a naked picture of herself to her boyfriend. The next day, they spend the afternoon making out on his boat. Ashleigh's friends later prank Kaleb by writing gay-themed messages with shoe polish on the windows of his truck. A girl in Ashleigh's community service program is pregnant. Ashleigh has to handle a lot of sexual teasing, including insults and gestures.

One instance of "f--k." Some uses of "s--t," "bitch," "dick," "slut," "ass," "crap," etc.

Ashleigh is drunk at a party with lots of heavy drinking when she send the picture. In her community service program, other kids talk about a drug dealer. Ashleigh talks about her dad drinking wine "at record speed."

Parents need to know that Thousand Words is about a girl who -- while drunk at a party with lots of heavy drinking -- takes a naked picture of herself that eventually goes viral. As a result, she has to endure humiliating teasing at school, in her town, and on her phone. There's some swearing and some kissing, and other characters include a suspected drug dealer and a pregnant teen. This is a cautionary tale about sexting, but it's also a powerful story about a girl learning to move on -- and define herself -- after making a devastating mistake. Parents may want to talk about the kids at Ashleigh's school who forwarded on the photo -- even though they weren't responsible for its initial dissemination. Since according to the book, "20 percent of teens have sent nude or seminude photos or videos of themselves to someone else," these are important topics to address. For advice, check out our Talking About Sexting article.