Some students in elite private schools have secrets they'll do anything to keep secret.  Some students collect other's secrets as potential blackmail material.  The A listers have plenty of dirt on their classmates.  When they do a big reveal there's hell to pay.

     That's the chilling premise behind Aleema Omotoni's YA novel, Everyone's Thinking.

     Iyanu finds safety and anonymity behind the camera.  One Friday she develops the pictures she took of a school event.  She returns to school Monday to find out that the pictures have been converted to polaroids and sent out to certain students with malicious messages on the backs.

     Her cousin, Kitan, is in the inner circle.  She's bothered by the cruelty, self centeredness, and racism of her set, but terrified of a fall from grace.

     The school is an uproar with students turning on each other.  Iyanu is desperately trying to find the culprit to prove that she didn't send the pictures.  Kitan is trying to believe her set is blameless...

     ...until she can't.

     Iyanu and Kitan are two of the only students of color in a majority white, majority clueless school.  Omotoni gives a vivid picture of the microaggressions and other humiliations they all too frequently have to endure.

     This highly engaging novel subtly enlightens while it entertains.  The complex plot and vividly drawn character will captivate teen (and adult) readers.

     Can you guess who didn't before the end?  I sure couldn't.

Jules Hathaway