On the first day of junior year, Annabel fears her ex-best friend, Sophie.

Whitney lives at home through her recovery, and the family is so focused on her recovery that they don’t notice that Annabel is struggling. Months later, the sisters are still not speaking because Kirsten revealed Whitney’s eating disorder to their parents. After Annabel discovers Whitney passed out on the bathroom floor, Whitney’s anorexia and bulimia become obvious. Bold, talkative Kirsten and private, brooding Whitney fight often, but when they return home, Kirsten shares that Whitney doesn’t eat and works out often. Annabel is afraid to take away Grace’s lifesaving activity of management.Īnnabel’s older sisters, Whitney and Kirsten, move to New York City and compete for the same modeling jobs. Slowly, Grace overcame her depression to help her girls’ careers. Grace spent days in bed, grieving and dazed. Years earlier, when her grandmother died, her mother experienced a deep depression. But after the night that Annabel can’t bring herself to discuss, she doesn’t like being seen, judged, or touched by modeling staff. Though she doesn’t enjoy modeling any longer, she can’t bear to tell her mother, Grace, who finds joy in planning her three daughters’ modeling careers. She leaves to attend her first day of school after her summer of isolation and coping with a traumatic incident that occurred in the spring. Annabel remembers the director’s vision as the “girl who has everything,” but Annabel thinks her life is far from perfect.

On TV, she’s a cheerleader, a star student, and a handsome jock’s girlfriend. High school junior and model Annabel Greene watches herself in a commercial for the local department store. This study guide refers to the 2006 paperback edition of the novel published by Penguin Group/Viking.Ĭontent Warning: This book addresses sensitive topics including eating disorders, depression, sexual assault, and rape. Just Listen won the 2007 ALA Best Books for Young Adults award and the 2007 Margaret A. Before publishing Just Listen, Dessen had written six best-selling YA novels, including Keeping the Moon and This Lullaby.

Just listen sarah dessen summary