I Have the Right To

March 12, 2018
In this honest and raw memoir, Prout shares her experience as a 15-year-old victim of sexual assault by an older student at New Hampshire's St. Paul's School in 2014. With a sometimes confusing structure, Prout chronicles her first (and final) year at the boarding school. Leading up to the assault, she writes about battling homesickness, navigating a rocky friendship, and struggling to find her place at a school where, she perceives, "everything was about status, tradition, and hierarchyâand guys ruled all three." She also reflects on surviving a terrifying earthquake in Tokyo in 2011, where she temporarily lived with her family. Prout's descriptions of her assault and its crushing emotional aftermath (involving self-doubt, guilt, shame, peer ostracizing, and cyber-bullying) and the agonizing, widely publicized trial that resulted in her assailant's conviction on some, but not all, charges brought against him, are wrenching and painful. Readers will take away a deep appreciation and admiration for Prout's resilience as she transitions into a resolute crusader for the empowerment of victims of sexual violenceâand for its prevention. Ages 14-up. Agent: Abigail Samoun, Red Fox Literary.

May 28, 2018
A young survivor of sexual assault poignantly recounts the trauma of her experience in the audio edition of her memoir. Prout was 15 years old when she was sexually assaulted by a senior at her prep school, St. Paul’s School—and there are times in this heartfelt narration where her vulnerability is on full display. Her voice breaks when describing the rape and when she tells of the moment she first realized she could be a voice for survivors. Mostly, though, the now college-age Prout comes across as strong, capable, and rightly angry—especially when telling of the many ways people affiliated with the school attempted to shame her into silence and rallied around her attacker by helping to fund his legal defense. Prout’s performance is natural and unforced, alternating between the gentle tones she reserves to describe the support of various family members and the fierce, uncompromising pitch she adopts when detailing the abuse and its chilling aftermath. The audiobook offers some bonus content at the end: Prout’s mother reads her own afterword of advice for victims and their families, and coauthor Abelson, a Boston Globe reporter, offers behind-the-scenes glimpses of the book’s creation. This confident audio adaptation reflects both the strength and the fragility of its young author and narrator. Ages 14–up. A S&S/McElderry hardcover.

July 1, 2018
With Jenn Abelson. The teen author details her life before and after she was raped by a classmate. Prout provides a captivating but troubling insider's view of the dangerous student culture at an elite boarding school as well as a sympathetic portrayal of the wide-ranging consequences of reporting assault. Although her emotional memoir is perhaps over-long, Prout's transformation from survivor to activist is powerful and moving.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from April 1, 2018
As a 15-year-old, Prout was sexually assaulted at an elite New England boarding school, a crime that would make the national news before she made the decision to go public with her identity and reclaim her story.Prout takes readers behind the headlines in this candid and inspiring memoir of her assault and subsequent journey to justice and healing. After a childhood in Tokyo with her biracial (Japanese and white) father, white mother, and two sisters, Prout joined her older sister at St. Paul's, where a social system based on privilege and status allowed misogyny to flourish unchecked. As a freshman, Prout was raped by a popular senior boy who took her on a "Senior Salute," a ritualized school tradition wherein seniors tried to "score" younger students before graduation. Prout recounts her traumatic experience and its prolonged aftermath--the bullying and ostracization she endured upon her return to St. Paul's and the well-publicized trial--in honest and gut-wrenching detail. Prout acknowledges her privilege as a "white, straight, blond-haired girl from an upper-class family" that supported her unconditionally and explains that she wants to use her voice to help create a culture in which all survivors of sexual assault can feel empowered to speak out.Powerful, essential reading for all high school and college students, parents, and educators. (author's note, resources, letter from the Prouts, note from co-writer, acknowledgements) (Memoir. 14-adult)

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