Della Says: OMG! by Keris Stainton

With all the recent press about cyber-bullying, this novel seems pretty timely. See, Della Says: OMG! is about a girl in high school who just as she gets the interest of the boy of her dreams finds out that someone stole her diary and is posting scans of it on Facebook to harass her. I'm a big fan of YA novels and I love the boys of her dreams settings, but public embarrassment KILLS me. I'm so embarrassed for the characters, regardless of the fact that they aren't real people. So I got the book and read a couple chapters and then just couldn't make myself read more.

Fast forward a couple months and one night Della Says: OMG! was the only book available in my uh, personal space. (That would be the bathroom.) I started reading it in tiny bits (say, as long as you're typically occupied in that personal space) until I got past the embarrassment and was hooked. In the end, the book isn't so much about the diary, as it is about Della and Dan as they get to know each other, and Della's relationship with her best friend and family.  It's a much less intense book that the back of the book would lead you to believe, or maybe just differently intense. Della gets a lot of support over the missing diary. The people who are supposed to be shocked end up more outraged by the theft than anything- as it should be.  Perhaps it's my own high school experience with bullies (thankfully, I was mostly left alone, but I still saw it) but I was happy to see this one go the other way. Stainton does a great job with not making the victim a victim.
 
There is a good bit of talk about sex, including the topic of masturbation and not in the coarse har-har way, but honestly. Once again it's a book about a teen who is thinking about sex, and there is underage drinking, so it might not be for everyone, but I very much enjoyed it and would recommend it to most readers of YA novels.

In fact, want my copy? I'm trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible before we move. First person to ask for it gets it.

Della Says: OMG! 
by Keris Stainton 
@Keris
Orchard Books
2010
288 pages
Source: author

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks.