Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The 57 Bus comes Accountable, a propulsive and thought-provoking true story about the revelation of a racist social media account that changes everything for a group of high school students and begs the question: What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?

When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as "edgy" humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew.

Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account's discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults--educators and parents--whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse.

In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left asking: Where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean?

Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author Dashka Slater has written a must-read book for our era that explores the real-world consequences of online choices.

A YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist

Author: Dashka Slater
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
Published: 08/22/2023
Pages: 496
Weight: 1.21lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.83w x 1.54d
ISBN: 9780374314347
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2023
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 07/01/2023 - Book Of Special Distinction
Publishers Weekly 07/03/2023
Booklist 07/01/2023 pg. 55
Shelf Awareness 11/21/2023
School Library Journal 09/01/2023 pg. 127

About the Author
Dashka Slater is the New York Times-bestselling author of The 57 Bus and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in such publications as Newsweek, Salon, The New Times Magazine, and Mother Jones. The recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Slater is also an author of books for children. She lives in California.