500 Words or Less

by Juleah del Rosario

Overview

A YALSA 2020 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
“Compelling.” —School Library Journal
“Moving.” —Publishers Weekly
“Poignant.” —Kirkus Reviews

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 Elizabeth Acevedo.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534410442
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	09/25/2018
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	541,616
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Juleah del Rosario is Chamorro and Filipina, and lives in Colorado where she works as a librarian. She is the author of 500 Words or Less and Turtle under Ice. Her favorite animal is and always has been a turtle.

Read an Excerpt

500 Words or Less
Someone had written WHORE

in bright orange lipstick

on my locker.

It was waiting for me

after third period,

like an old friend

hanging

around after class.

For the past three weeks,

I have filed down these halls,

opened this locker,

stuffed textbooks

and slightly damp rain jackets inside.

I’ve regurgitated facts,

aced exams,

daydreamed about life

at an Ivy like Princeton,

and sometimes I’ve thought

about Ben.

It was life in a holding pattern,

circling around an airport

where you can’t yet land.

I glanced over to Jordan’s locker

and saw its pristine state.

No bright orange lipstick.

Was there even a male equivalent

to the word “whore”?

There were words,

but none that carried

the same weight.

Maybe I would have cried

if I were

a different girl.

But this was senior year,

and my life was more than

a series of letters

scrawled on a locker, vying

to break me.

Editorial Reviews

06/25/2018
In this moving novel in verse, Nic Chen agrees to write her classmates’ college essays for a price and becomes not only her peers’ accidental biographer but also a vessel for many of their secrets. Through Nic’s poetic narration and essays, debut author del Rosario unearths the profound range of emotions buried underneath the surface in a class of high school students—grief about a parent who left, hope of becoming someone who is “more than a football player,” pain of walking down the school hallways while being the object of cruel gossip. Nic carries her own percolating well of loss, too: of her mother, who left; of her ex, Ben, who transferred after she cheated; and of her classmates’ respect following the incident (“whore” is written in lipstick across her locker in one scene). Del Rosario’s poems are accessible, and Nic proves herself a keen observer of the world around her, an adept interrogator of her own self, and a philosopher who considers how and why life happens the way it does. Ages 14–up. Agent: Brent Taylor, Triada U.S. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

This compelling novel in verse encourages deep thought and conversation. Fans of Perfect by Ellen Hopkins will devour this timely and addictive read.” —School Library Journal

“Del Rosario’s poems are accessible, and Nic proves herself a keen observer of the world around her, an adept interrogator of her own self, and a philosopher who considers how and why life happens the way it does.” —Publishers Weekly

“Thoughtfully introspective.” —Booklist

“In poignant verse, the moments of anguish, loneliness, and hope ring true.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Highly recommended." —School Library Connection

“Juleah Del Rosario is an important new voice in YA lit.” —Judy Zuckerman, Brooklyn Public Library

From the Publisher

07/01/2018
Gr 9 Up—Seventeen-year-old Nic Chen is Chinese and white, and struggling with issues of race, class, and gender double standards in the affluent community of Meydenbauer. This is a town where Ivy League acceptance letters are a minimal expectation, and the microaggressions experienced by people of color are eagerly swept under the rug to comfort the sensibilities of white elites. After cheating on her boyfriend, Nic is a social outcast with only her best friend, Kitty, taking her side. Nic's talent for writing serves as a lifeline to redeem her. The catch: she must write winning college admissions letters for her classmates. The price: $300 and fragments of her moral compass. Nic is able to take the lived experiences of her classmates and write essays in 500 words or less that speak to something deeper in the human spirit. As she churns out essays, she has to search her own soul as well as those of her friends. It's not the money she craves, but a very specific void that she's trying to fill. This compelling novel in verse encourages deep thought and conversation. VERDICT Fans of Perfect by Ellen Hopkins will devour this timely and addictive read.—Christina Vortia, Hype Lit, Land O'Lakes, FL

School Library Journal

2018-06-18
A high school senior tries to move past her betrayal of her boyfriend and the disappearance of her mother.Branded a whore after an alcohol-fueled hookup with her boyfriend's best friend and desperate to "...for a moment / be someone / other than / that girl," Nic Chen agrees to write the college essays of classmates at her competitive high school. She understands the power of the spare, stripped-down vignette, and in learning and writing the stories of the valedictorian, the artist, the quarterback, and the mean girl, Nic starts to find her own story too. There's a lot going on here, and the boyfriend comes and goes in such fleeting moments that it's hard to empathize with Nic's stated sense of loss. Debut author del Rosario only begins to unpack the complexity of Nic's relationships with her runaway white mother and her emotionally distant Chinese father and her identity as their biracial daughter in a largely wealthy, largely white Seattle-area community. Add in an extensive cast of classmates and a few loyal friends whose stories aren't told, and the impact of the whole is perhaps less than the sum of its parts. Still, the author, like Nic, knows the weight of "emotionally raw" experiences, and, in poignant verse, the moments of anguish, loneliness, and hope ring true.As one of the characters describes Nic: beautiful but not perfect. (Novel in verse. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews