Other Sellers on Amazon
+ $3.99 shipping
95% positive over last 12 months
+ $4.99 shipping
79% positive over last 12 months
FREE Shipping
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say: A Novel Hardcover – May 1, 2018
| Leila Sales (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
| Price | New from | Used from |
Enhance your purchase
A novel about public shaming in the internet age, the power of words, the cumulative destructiveness of microaggressions, and the pressing need for empathy.
Before we go any further, I want you to understand this: I am not a good person.
We all want to be seen. We all want to be heard. But what happens when we’re seen and heard saying or doing the wrong things?
When Winter Halperin―former spelling bee champion, aspiring writer, and daughter of a parenting expert―gets caught saying the wrong thing online, her life explodes. All across the world, people know what she’s done, and none of them will forgive her.
With her friends gone, her future plans cut short, and her identity in shambles, Winter is just trying to pick up the pieces without hurting anyone else. She knows she messed up, but does that mean it’s okay for people to send her hate mail and death threats? Did she deserve to lose all that she’s lost? And is “I’m sorry” ever good enough?
Decide for yourself.
- Reading age12 - 18 years
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level7 - 9
- Lexile measure770L
- Dimensions5.65 x 1.19 x 8.65 inches
- PublisherFarrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
- Publication dateMay 1, 2018
- ISBN-100374380996
- ISBN-13978-0374380991
Customers who bought this item also bought
From the Publisher
Author Q&A with Leila Sales
Q: What was your inspiration for the book?
Leila: I saw the author Jon Ronson give a talk about Justine Sacco, this woman who made a racially charged joke on Twitter, then turned off her phone for the duration of a flight. When she landed, she found out that her tweet had gone viral, she’d been fired from her job, and she was receiving death threats, etc. Her life fell apart thanks to one careless post. This story really shook me, because I felt like her punishment was so astonishingly outsized for the crime. I wondered, what happened to her after that? How could she ever get her life back on track? What happens to any of these people whom we pillory and then forget?
I’m kind of a perfectionist, and I’m not very forgiving of myself when I make mistakes. I hate it when people are mad at me and will go to great lengths to avoid that. So I was interested in exploring what happens when you’re like that woman Ronson talked about—you’re not perfect, you make a bad choice, and then people are mad at you—how do you live with that? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I wanted to write a novel to try to figure it out.
Q: If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say deals with some heavy subjects: microaggression, social media, and internet shaming, to name a few. Why tackle these topics and what research did you do to prepare for writing about them?
Leila: That’s what I see going on in the world right now. It’s all over my Twitter feed, I see it in the news; it’s hard to avoid. I don’t think we as a society know yet how to deal with strangers on the internet saying something that we don’t agree with. The general principle just seems to be, 'Well, try your hardest not to ever become to subject of an internet controversy, because if you do, then you’re screwed forever.'
Of course I did a ton of research. I read books and articles about public shaming, bullying, race, bias, etc.—both academic texts and also personal essays. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and listened to a lot of podcasts. The book focuses on the dark underbelly of the internet, but the positive side of this technology is that it’s now easier than ever to find out what other people’s lives are like. In general, people post content online because they want to tell you about their experiences. They want to be understood. You just have to be willing to listen and empathize.
Q: There is a big emphasis on writing and words in the book. How would you describe the book in a few words?
Leila: The book is about empathy and self-forgiveness. And the idea that not everything is black and white, that you can be simultaneously a villain and a victim, or, as Winter says in the book, 'A generally good person who sometimes does bad things'.
Q: If you could give Winter a piece of advice, what would it be?
Leila: Listen to people. If somebody tells you that you’ve upset them, believe them. Try to understand why they are upset, and how you can do better going forward. Don’t just tell someone that they’re wrong to be offended, and that if they don’t like something you did, well, that’s their problem.
Q: How does this book differ from the previous books that you have written?
Leila: I consider all of my books to be about broken girls finding ways to move forward. I write about young women who consider themselves to be intrinsically flawed, or who have done or experienced things that they can’t move past, and I aim to show how they can find hopeful futures. The idea, basically, is: just because you’ve been broken in the past, that doesn’t mean you need to stay broken forever. And, moreover, exactly who is telling you that you’re broken in the first place, and do you even need to believe them?
Many of my books also grapple with the impact of technology on our lives. In This Song Will Save Your Life, there’s a blog filled with hurtful anecdotes about the main character. In Tonight The Streets Are Ours, the protagonist becomes obsessed with the online persona of a guy she’s never met. If You Don’T Have Anything Nice To Say is, of course, about internet shaming and pile-ons.
So I don’t think this book is a huge departure from the topics I’ve written about before. I’d say that the primary difference here is that Winter has, unprompted, done something more hurtful than the protagonists of my previous books. So my challenge as a writer was to convince readers root for her, even as we’re disturbed by some of her actions.
Q: What is one thing that you want readers to take away?
Leila: That you don’t know what’s going on in somebody else’s life. When you interact with a stranger—online or in person—you don’t know if this is the anniversary of their mom’s death, or if they just broke up with their boyfriend, or got fired, or had a car accident, or lost their wallet… You have no idea. So before you yell at someone for taking your seat, or criticize someone for making a mistake at work, or make fun of someone on Twitter, just consider that they may have their reasons, and you’ll do better not to start from a place of anger.
Editorial Reviews
Review
*A Bank Street College Best Book of the Year!*
*A Tablet Magazine Best Jewish Children's Book of 2018!*
"Sales (This Song Will Save Your Life) tackles a thoroughly modern problem, and she is careful to stay within the gray, neither condoning Winter’s explanation nor fully embracing the meaningless apology. A nuanced approach to how the internet encourages the dehumanization of users gives this novel its realistic tone and serves as a strong warning to teens (and their parents)"―Publishers Weekly
"This is a sharp, incisive novel about culpability in the digital age. Winter’s not quite the villain the world thinks, but neither is she entirely innocent. For teens especially, this will offer valuable perspective on the effect words can have."―Booklist
"A thoughtful, compulsively readable story of a twenty-first century teen's worst nightmare come true." ―Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starred review
"[A] thoughtful coming-of-age story that underlines the power of empathy, community, and believing in one’s own capacity for positive change." ―TheHorn Book
"Inspired by a true story, this is a very thought-provoking, well written young adult novel that brings up a lot of important and timely issues without offering pat, superficial solutions." ―The Association of Jewish Libraries
About the Author
I'd like to read this book on Kindle
Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Product details
- Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (May 1, 2018)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0374380996
- ISBN-13 : 978-0374380991
- Reading age : 12 - 18 years
- Lexile measure : 770L
- Grade level : 7 - 9
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.65 x 1.19 x 8.65 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,042,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,346 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction on Prejudice & Racism
- #1,824 in Teen & Young Adult Fiction about Self Esteem & Reliance
- #346,510 in Children's Books
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Leila Sales grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from the University of Chicago. Now she lives in Brooklyn, New York, and works as a children's book editor. Leila spends most of her time thinking about sleeping, kittens, dance parties, and stories that she wants to write. Learn more at leilasales.com.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Inspired by the social media culture of today's society, If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say is the story of a young woman whose life is forever altered because of an online post. Winter Halperin is a high achieving student, ready to graduate high school and take the college world by storm. When she makes an ignorant comment online that starts a firestorm, will Winter be able to salvage her world and set things right?
Public shaming in the internet age can be catastrophic, which the author details successfully in this novel. Sympathy for those who do wrong does not really exist in social media, leading to the destruction of lives and careers. Winter Halperin is a likable character, despite her ignorance, because of her true desire to learn and grow from her mistakes. Readers, especially teenage ones, can learn a valuable lesson from Winter's troubles, as everything a person does can be subject to public viewing. I would recommend If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say to YA readers, as the novel is definitely a reflection of current culture.
What happens when the worst thing you ever said is the only thing people know about you?
Winter Halperin has always been good with words—something that served her well as a National Spelling Bee champion a few years ago.
Now, after thoughtlessly sharing one insensitive comment online, words (and the entirety of the internet) have turned against Winter.She is stripped of her Spelling Bee title, condemned by strangers, and loses her college acceptance.
Winter always thought she was a good person. She still does. But mounting evidence online suggests otherwise. So does the mounting panic Winter feels every time she looks herself up online. Because how can she stop looking when some new horror could be added at any moment?
As she grapples with the aftermath of The Incident Winter is forced to confront hard truths about her own bigotry and its role in what happened as well as the nature of public shaming in the internet age in If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say (2018) by Leila Sales.
Sales’ latest standalone novel is a timely, sometimes brutal contemporary novel. Winter is a white girl from a fairly well off family. Her comment–meant, she claims, as a fact-based joke on historical Bee winners–suggests that the latest winner of the National Spelling Bee (a twelve-year-old African American girl) can’t spell and is a surprising winner.
If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say starts with Winter posting that comment before bed and waking up to a nightmare of notifications, hateful messages, and other bad publicity as awareness of her comment grows and grows.
Although the novel is written in the first person Sales is careful to neither condone nor condemn Winter’s actions throughout. It’s up to readers to decide what punishment (or forgiveness) Winter may or may not deserve. When Winter develops crippling anxiety and panic attacks surrounding her online presence and what people are saying about her she enters a program to try and make amends for her actions and also to cope with the very public and very painful online shaming.
If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say is very plot driven without being high action. The focus of the story is squarely on what Winter did and the aftermath. The contrast between Winter confronting her own internalized bigotry/racism while also being subjected to such intense online shaming is incredibly powerful and thought provoking.
Winter is not always a likable character. It’s easy to feel bad for her as she faces death threats, of course. But it’s also hard to understand her thoughtlessness or how she is more focused on how many likes her joke might receive than on how hurtful it could be. In other words, Winter is a lot like many people who are active on social media.
Winter’s character arc balances dealing with the fallout both internally as she confronts her own biases/bigotry that she hasn’t grappled with before with the very public shaming. Does Winter learn anything from The Incident? Maybe, probably. Is it enough? Readers will have to judge that on their own.
If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say is a timely novel that will start a lot of hard but necessary conversations.
Possible Pairings: Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed, Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World by Ana Homayoun, All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson, American Street by Ibi Zoboi
My favorite part of the book was Winter's friends; Mackler and Corey, and then Abe. It was Abe that really made the story turn around. The retreat Winter visited seemed kind of weird, and the owners were definitely kind of terrible, getting so angry at Winter for not doing exactly as they said, but the other people there were great. Though - what happened with Abe after they left the retreat??? That's my only question / complaint coming out of this. I think what Winter decided to do with her life was great - but what about Abe?
Note: I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.


