Accountable

The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed

By: Dashka Slater

Narrated by: Ariel Blake

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Winner, 2024

Long-listed, School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2023

"The audiobook brings to light the power of social dynamics, questions the role of personal responsibility, and examines the fallout that occurred long after the event, affecting all involved for years."—AudioFile

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The 57 Bus comes Accountable, a propulsive and thought-provoking new young adult narrative nonfiction book about the revelation of a racist social media account that changes everything for a group of high school students and begs the question: What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?

When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as “edgy” humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew.

Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults—educators and parents—whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse.

In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left asking: Where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean?

Award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author Dashka Slater has written a must-listen book for our era that explores the real-world consequences of online choices.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2022 Dashka Slater (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Accountable was poignant.

From the first word to the last, the story of all these teens gripped me. I am a better person for having read this book.

Deep dive in youth culture and the crushing impact of racism and racist memes

This book is an incredibly thoughtful and introspective investigation into the follies of youth culture online, and the deeply destructive effects of racism and racist memes. Also, it’s a story of how adults attempted to intervene and failed miserably to manage reconciliation. And the story of how these high school students moved on.

A story of our time

Amazing, this book is something special. Heartfelt and honest this story gave me flashbacks to my time in high school. This is only a book that can be written in the here and now. Unbelievably compelling, I think this book should be taught (might be too complex for freshman High school but maybe senior or freshman college?) it so excellently explains the American condition. I can’t praise this book enough or the author, whom I believe taught me a few lessons on reporting with youth or youth culture along the way.

The racist boys got rewarded in the end.

Well written, forced me to view things from the perpetrators’ points of view. Just generally sad that this is how white boys “get laughs” from their peers. Don’t see how this will ever end.

Thank you Accountable

I appreciate getting a chance to read this book, being unaware of the story in Albany, California, high school, and how the power of words can hurt a person.

powerful book and beautifully read!

This book is so critical to understanding what many Black students are going through in schools these days and the psychology behind non-black students who engage in anti- black racist behavior. This should be required reading for school administrators and high school students.