Publisher - Scholastic Press, August 1st, 2011 336 Pages
Abby and Luke chat online. They've never met. But they are going to. Soon.
Abby is starting high school—it should be exciting, so why doesn't she care? Everyone tells her to "make an effort," but why can't she just be herself? Abby quickly feels like she's losing a grip on her once-happy life. The only thing she cares about anymore is talking to Luke, a guy she met online, who understands. It feels dangerous and yet good to chat with Luke—he is her secret, and she's his. Then Luke asks her to meet him, and she does. But Luke isn't who he says he is. When Abby goes missing, everyone is left to put together the pieces. If they don't, they'll never see Abby again.
Abby is going through what most of us go through while we are figuring out this whole teenager life thing. She is just starting a new school, high school at that. The hot guy never remembers her name, her parents are always on her about grades & everything else, she feels that she is losing her best friend since 2nd grade so she has been chatting with someone online. What she thought was just an innocent coversation at first slowly became something entirely different. Abby was talking online to "Luke" who made her feel special, that he cared, understood, & loved her..and only her. That was a bond that Abby thought no one could break. She was wondering at first why Luke kept saying not to tell anyone because they wouldn't understand, little did she know.
Want to Go Private? not only covers the fact that there are some really sick people in this world but how they gain the trust of their victims, in this case Abby. It brings it in reality when it's not only told from Abby's point of view but her sister's & friends as well. Lets face it, at some point when you were younger you probably did chat with some random person online thinking that it was harmless because it's just words on a screen, I know I did! That right there is what hit home. I may be 27 now but some of the same insecurities that you feel when you are younger follow you to adulthood & this could happen to anyone at any age.
In the book Abby states that her Aunt doesn't even want to date because of a bad experience with someone that she met online through Match.com & Abby's mother was trying to get her back into the dating scene using online sites but because of what happened previously she wasn't just ready yet. This was before Abby had her mistake shall we call it.
Again you not only see what is going on through Abby's point of view & how she felt but how others around her felt as well. It covered the aspect of what really happens to a family when something this tramic happens to them, it goes over what the victim has to go through just waking up every day & looking in the mirror. If you thought kids at school were mean before this 'mistake' happened, it only gets a million times worse.
This book made me cry! I have had tears brought to my eyes by reading but never have I cried! I could relate to what Abby was feeling & so glad that it turned out the way it did with her friends & what not. I know that she is a fictional character but I felt her pain when she had to suffer through what Luke did.
Sarah Littman brought a real problem that is growing suprisingly fast to our attention. This could happen to anyone, at any age, just because your older doesn't mean that something like this couldn't happen to you, the world we live in is far from perfect.
All in all it's a great book. I couldn't put it down (husband even called me a dork for reading it so quickly). The story will forever stay with me.
-Shellie
Nice review! I loved that the book was emotional and enlightening!
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