What do you think?
Rate this book


400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
"Owls can rotate their heads by two hundred and seventy degrees," I say sharply. "Natalie, do I look like an owl to you?"
"Well, you do have unnaturally large, round eyes. And that bird documentary you made me watch last year said they eat whole mice and then barf up the skeleton. I've definitely seen you do that with a chocolate wrapper."
But then, with a rush, I can suddenly hear them all: every single unkind word I've ever been called.
Circling in the air above my head like angry flies: buzzing and buzzing, as if they're desperate to find somewhere to land. Ugly. Freckles. Nobody. Boring. Loser. Spotty. Carrots. GEEK.
But for the first time, they can't seem to settle or stick on me. There's nowhere for them to go.
Still smiling, I reach a hand up and start batting at them: hitting the words, one by one, until they're dead on the floor. Empty ghost words that have no meaning, no use, no purpose, no truth in them.
Definitions that aren't in my dictionary any more.
Because from this point onwards, nobody gets to choose the vocabulary I use for myself but me.