On the Subject of Unmentionable Things

By: Julia Walton

Narrated by: Phoebe Strole

A girl rewrites sex education, one viral post at a time, in this fiercely honest and delightfully awkward novel from the award-winning author of Words on Bathroom Walls.

Phoebe Townsend is a rule follower . . . or so everyone thinks. She’s an A student who writes for her small-town school newspaper. But what no one knows is that Phoebe is also Pom—the anonymous teen who’s rewriting sex education on her blog and social media.

Phoebe is not a pervert. No, really. Her unconventional hobby is just a research obsession. And sex should not be a secret. As long as Phoebe stays undercover, she’s sure she’ll fly through junior year unnoticed. . . .

That is, until Pom goes viral, courtesy of mayoral candidate Lydia Brookhurst. The former beauty queen labels Phoebe’s work an “assault on morality,” riling up her supporters and calling on Pom to reveal her identity. But Phoebe is not backing down. With her anonymity on the line, is it all worth the fight?

Julia Walton delivers a brutally honest novel about sex, social media, and the courage to pursue truth when misinformation is rife. Who knew truth could be so scandalous?

Critic reviews

"An essential, sex-positive volume." --Publishers Weekly

"Already known for dealing with complex subjects with grace and honesty, Walton creates in Phoebe, best friend Cora, crush Neil, and eventual boyfriend Jorge real, imperfect characters with genuine emotions and actions. Through the medium of Phoebe’s blog posts and tweets, Walton also manages to include a tremendous amount of useful information about sex." --Kirkus Reviews

"A sex-positive read that spotlights the importance of sex education and information. Give to older YA readers who enjoy contemporary realistic fiction with a message." --School Library Journal

This book

This book was a great story. And so spot on the subject matter. I really enjoyed listening to it and the narrative was done beautifully as well.

This should be required reading for high school students

As a former high school health teacher, I would have loved to have access to a book like this for my students. It’s engaging, and accurate. I love how the author normalized conversations about sex continually reinforced that “yes, that is normal”.

Loved this book!

I really really loved this story! Finished the whole thing in one day! Definitely recommend :)

A story to make Judy Blume proud

A much-needed book that tackles censorship, medically-accurate sex education, and the realities of teen relationships (friends, frenemies, dating, consent, respect, uncertainty, internal conflict, private v. public persona) with humor, authenticity, and compassion, all within the world of health class, future aspirations, online identity, and community reactions. The audio narration is engaging and the story earned a full listen all the way through in one day.