A Girl's Life Online

Moving and insightful ... a page-turner... Read it, tell your mom to read it, tell your best friend to read it, and then read it again. -Seventeen.com An impressive work that reveals the tormented psyche of a young teen who seemed to have it all. -TIME In 1995, first-time author Tarbox was leading an upper-middle-class life of quiet desperation. At age 13, she rarely saw her workaholic mother, who seemed only to care about her daughter's swim-team performance, and got on poorly with her stepfather. Overscheduled, ignored and less than perfectly attractive, she felt invisible in her wealthy Connecticut town. Now, at age 17, she evocatively describes how her first romance permanently altered her life. She first encountered Mark in an early AOL chatroom. While his stated age (23) gave her pause, he seemed the perfect boyfriend: he called her every night, listened to her opinions and encouraged her to relax. When he wanted to meet her at a swim meet in Texas, she agreed-but Mark turned out to be a middle-age pedophile named Frank, who molested her in a hotel room... Strong, articulate and conservative, Tarbox evokes pity and admiration with her heartfelt account of a precocious girl who was deceived and then betrayed. -Publisher's Weekly This compelling and honestly written read paints a vivid picture of the angst-ridden world of young teens. -Susan H. Woodcock, School Library Journal The subtitle says it all; what is extraordinary about this poignant, if not strictly frightening, story is that it was written by the child in question...The moral of the story, as Katie is wise enough to see, is not for parents to deny children access to the Internet, but to spend more times with them. -Times Literary Supplement