YA Feel Good Pick: Margot Mertz Takes It Down

 

Margot Mertz Takes It Down

by Carrie McCrossing & Ian McWethy

Penguin Books for Young Readers

Penguin Random House

2021

384 pages

ISBN: 9870593205259

Margot Mertz Takes It Down tackles online sexploitation and bullying, revenge porn, sharing images of underage girls without their permission and seriously bad and felonious online behavior. Margot Mertz is sly, sarcastic to the point of greatness, caustic to those who use others, and the girl every girl admires and every boy might be afraid to date (lol). 

If you have a mess online, if a spouse or former lover has posted something awful about you, if someone snapped a photo of you doing something "bad" at a party, Margot can take care of it. With her knowledge of hacking and help from her BFF hacker extraordinaire tech buddy Sammi, Margot hits villains where it hurts the most--their online presence. 

When a case is brought to her by a girl at her school, Margot's horrified that Roosevelt Bitches website is operating and has posted nudes of several girls at her school. Margot will be sure and make whoever (asshole) has posted and maintains this website pay. First things first, she makes a list of possible suspects (assholes) who either have the tech skills to pull a website off and/or an axe to grind against these girls. 

She decides she needs insider information and goes to great lengths to get Avery to "like" her. Avery is handsome and popular and knows literally everyone at Roosevelt and gets along with everyone. Plus, Avery is in almost every group or club on campus. 

The voice of Margot is hilarious and her footnotes are even funnier that the content noted. An awesome, funny read for anyone with a sense of humor. 
I read one review from a high school librarian who said she'd not put it on the shelf of her library because it's about revenge porn among high school minors and laced with f-bombs. My comeback to said librarian is: REALLY? Are you living in the past? It's all about online behavior and YES, minors send porn to each other. It's illegal, but it's happening. You can't stand by with your blindfold. I'd rather have teens read about it and a strong girl who takes action against a group of felons who tried very hard to ruin the girls' lives. 

grades 8 and up. If the f-bombs offend you, this isn't a book for you.

Highly, highly recommended and most likely to receive big awards this year.