A Study Guide for Sarah Dessen's "Just Listen"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Sarah Dessen's "Just Listen", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: May 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781410393883

Book preview

18

Just Listen

Sarah Dessen

2006

Introduction

In Sarah Dessen's Just Listen (2006), Annabel Greene is a beautiful seventeen-year-old model who lives with her family in an eye-catching glass house. Cast in a commercial as the girl who has everything, Annabel begins her junior year of high school as a shell of her former self after her best friend, the cruel and popular Sophie, accuses her of sleeping with her boyfriend. In reality, Sophie's boyfriend, Will Cash, has sexually assaulted Annabel, but she finds the truth too shameful to admit. A people pleaser, she struggles to be honest, especially when she knows the truth might hurt. But her life is changed when she meets a fellow outcast, Owen, who teaches Annabel to tell the truth: first about her opinion of his eclectic music taste, then about her sister Whitney's struggle with an eating disorder, next about her waning interest in modeling, and finally the story of the summer party where Annabel was assaulted. Annabel's journey is mirrored in that of her two older sisters, both of whom must face their demons to grow as young women who define themselves, even if that definition does not fit into their family's perfect image.

Author Biography

Dessen was born on June 6, 1970, in Evanston, Illinois. She attended Chapel Hill High School in North Carolina. She earned her bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of North Carolina and worked as the personal assistant to the celebrated author Lee Smith before setting out on a writing career of her own. The author of over a dozen young-adult novels, Dessen has enjoyed immense success. Her first two novels, That Summer (1996) and Someone like You (1998), were the inspiration for the film How to Deal (2003), starring Mandy Moore. Just Listen, published in 2006, was her seventh novel and was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, a Booksense Top Ten Pick, and a Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Teens' Top Ten. Her many novels include Keeping the Moon (1999), Dreamland (2000), This Lullaby (2002), The Truth about Forever (2004), Lock and Key (2008), Along for the Ride (2009), Infinity (2010), What Happened to Goodbye (2011), The Moon and More (2013), Saint Anything (2015), and Once and for All (2017). Her work has topped the New York Times best-seller list and has been published in more than thirty countries. In 2017, Dessen was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award from YALSA for her outstanding contribution to young-adult literature. As of 2017, Dessen lived in Chapel Hill with her husband and family.

Plot Summary

Chapter One

Annabel watches herself in a commercial. She plays the girl who has everything. As she watches herself advertising back-to-school clothes for