School Library Connection Archive

500 Words or Less

500 Words or Less Book cover
Author(s): Juleah Del Rosario
Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)
Copyright Year: 2018
ISBN/ISSN: 9781534410442
REVIEWED November 1, 2018
Rating: Highly Recommended
Recommended Grade Levels: 9-12

High-school senior Nic Chen laments with her boyfriend's best friend over the theatrics of their overly indulgent, yet lonely personal lives. However, they end up taking it too far and jeopardize Nic's relationship with her boyfriend. Now saddled with the label of a woman scorned for her senior year, Nic seeks to redefine her status. This search for a redefinition leads her to write college entrance exams for her Ivy League obsessed peers. The process clarifies the muddy waters of her past to help Nic solidify her identity, just before the sudden death of her old boyfriend weeks before graduation. This coming-of-age novel, written in verse, flows freely, leading readers along and inviting them to contemplate their own self-discovery and identity. The novel provides discussion points on the psychology of senioritis which could be explored and discussed in the context of preparing teens for the future. Certainly, this is a novel containing deep themes that many readers will relate to. Get ready to not put this title down!

Peg Billing
Publisher's Product Description
A high school senior attempts to salvage her reputation among her Ivy League–obsessed classmates by writing their college admissions essays and in the process learns big truths about herself in this mesmerizing debut novel-in-verse, perfect for fans of Gayle Forman and Sonya Sones.

Nic Chen refuses to spend her senior year branded as the girl who cheated on her charismatic and lovable boyfriend. To redefine her reputation among her Ivy League–obsessed classmates, Nic begins writing their college admissions essays.

But the more essays Nic writes for other people, the less sure she becomes of herself, the kind of person she is, and whether her moral compass even points north anymore.

Provocative, brilliant, and achingly honest, 500 Words or Less explores the heartbreak and hope that marks the search for your truest self.
Media Type: Book, eBook
Binding: HC
Price: $18.99
Genre: Fiction
Sub-Genre: Novel in Verse