Just Listen (2006) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

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• Annabel Greene: Annabel is the youngest of three sisters. Annabel used to be popular but she starts the school year off as a loner, no friends. Just like her two older sisters she is a model, but wants to quit. Annabel has a hard time telling her mother she wants out of the modeling business, as she hates any confrontation of any kind. She doesn't usually tell people the truth because she doesn't want to hurt there feelings. Since being around Owen she starts to be more honest, especially with herself.
• Owen Armstrong: Owen never talks to anyone at school. He keeps to himself and keeps his headphones in. Until he meets Sophie....
• Kirsten Greene: The oldest of three sisters.
• Whitney Greene: Is the middle child between Kristen and Annabel. She is said to be beautiful, and used to a model. Whitney ends up being anorexic and cannot model any longer.
• Mallory Armstrong: Owens hyper little sister. Who is obsessed with Annabel and wants to be just like her.
• Clarke Reynolds: Clarke used to be Annabel's best friend . . .
• Sophie Rawlins: Sophie was friends with Annabel only something happened and now she hates her. . .
• Will Cash: Sophie's boyfriend.
• Grace Greene: Annabel's mom, who fell apart when her mother passed away in the book. The only thing that kept her 'happy' and occupied her was her children modeling.
• Andrew Greene: Annabel's dad.
• Rolly: He is one of Owen's friends and has a thing for one of Annabel's friends, Clarke.
• Clarke: Annabel's best friend when they were little. When Annabel became friends with Sophie, Clarke and Annabel stopped being friends. When Rolly tells Annabel he likes her, she introduces Clarke to Rolly. Annabel and Clarke later become friends again.

Quotes edit see section history

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• “Silence is so freaking loud!”

  Owen Armstrong

• “Don't think or judge; just listen.”

  Annabelle Greene

• “Shhh Annabel, it's just me.”

  Annabelle Greene

• “There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying.”

  Owen Armstrong

• “The unknown isn't always the greatest thing to fear. The people who know you best can be riskier, because the words they say and the things they think have the potential to be not only scary but true, as well.”

  Annabelle Greene

• “Some people think they like music, but they have no idea what it’s really about. They’re kidding themselves. Then there are people who feel strongly about music, but just aren’t listening to the right stuff. They’re misguided. And then there are people like me.”

  Owen Armstrong

• “Music is a total constant. That’s why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment.”

  Owen Armstrong

• “'Bacon?' I repeated. 'Which song is that?'”

  Annabelle Greene

• “I said, maybe it sounds incredible in the car wash.”

  Annabelle Greene

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• There comes a time in every life when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you’d better learn to know the sound of it. Otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s saying.

  Highlighted by 66 Kindle customers

• a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment. Which is pretty amazing, when you actually think about it.”

  Highlighted by 57 Kindle customers

• Because that is what happens when you try to run from the past. It doesn’t just catch up: it overtakes, blotting out the future, the landscape, the very sky, until there is no path left except that which leads through it, the only one that can ever get you home.

  Highlighted by 55 Kindle customers

• I was beginning to see, though, that the unknown wasn’t always the greatest thing to fear. The people who know you best can be riskier, because the words they say and the things they think have the potential to be not only scary but true, as well.

  Highlighted by 55 Kindle customers

• But being nice wasn’t as easy as it seemed, especially when the rest of the world could be so mean.

  Highlighted by 51 Kindle customers

• The past did affect the present and the future, in the ways you could see and a million ones you couldn’t. Time wasn’t a thing you could divide easily; there was no defined middle or beginning or end. I could pretend to leave the past behind, but it would not leave me.

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• If you don’t pay attention to the past, you’ll never understand the future. It’s all linked together.

  Highlighted by 45 Kindle customers

• I wondered which was harder, in the end. The act of telling, or who you told it to. Or maybe if, when you finally got it out, the story was really all that mattered.

  Highlighted by 39 Kindle customers

• “The thing is,” Rolly said, “it’s a big deal when you finally get the chance to do the one thing you want to do—need to do—more than anything. It can kind of scare the crap out of you.”

  Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers

• But you can’t always get the perfect moment. Sometimes, you just have to do the best you can, under the circumstances.

  Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Community Radio Station: It is located in a squat, square building that had once been a bank.
• Fountain School: It is the 'Hippie School.'
• A-Frame: It is a house outside of town that people can rent.
• Perkins Day: It is the local private school.
• Bendo: It is a club over on Finley.
• Armstrongs' House: It is a beautiful, gray house with a wide front porch with a swing, and bright pink flowers in pots lining the steps.
• Jump Java: It is a coffee shop.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• R and R: It means, "Rephrase and Redirect."
• I-Lang: It means, "Inflammatory Language."
• Thinking Toward the Middle: It means not only thinking in extremes. Either one get what he wants or he doesn't. Either one is right or he is wrong.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Sarah Dessen (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Nancy Brennan (Designer) - Book design
2. Penguin Group (NZ) (Publisher)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Abraham Lincoln Award (Finalist, 2011: Young Adult fiction)
• Gateway Readers Award (2009: Grades 9-12)
• ALA Best Book for Young Adults (2007, #2)

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Contains a few kisses and some cuss words. Also, mentions rape.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Teens › Authors, A-Z › ( D ) › Dessen, Sarah
• Books › Teens › Social Issues › Sexual Abuse
• Books › Teens › Literature & Fiction

More Books Like This edit see section history