Rating: 
Summary: Read Katie.com
Review: Katie Tarbox's story of seduction and betrayal by an internet pedophile is a real page-turner. As a young adult I often worry about the people I meet on the internet, but then think "something couldn't happen to me." However, Katie.com shows us that there are Katies and Franks everywhere. I have told my mother, father, sisters, friends, and boyfriend to read this book because it so accurately portrays the ordeals that teenagers face in our society. Katie Tarbox is a true gem with wisdom and insight far beyond her years.
Rating: 
Summary: Chat Room hi-Jinks
Review: This gripping, non-fiction autoriography interested me to the very end of the book, whose theme is the danger of on-line chat rooms. You never know wht could happen.
In this book, Katie meets a man in an on-line chat room. the two decide to meet in person, and the guy turns out to be three times Katie's age and sexually abuses her. Katie and her mother decide to press charges, and the man is sent to jail, but only for one year.
Katie.com interested me very much. It was one of the stories I will remember forever. Although this book may not be for everyone, I find non-fiction very interesting. It tells about everyday life. Sometimes I get into on-line chat rooms, and I found it hard to believe what harm could really come from them. Reading this taught me never to trust something someone tells me in a chat room.
At the end of her book, Katie talks about how parents today must protect their children on the Internet, even if the children are teenagers. I completely agree with this. If parents don't watch out for their kids, then the same thing that happened to Katie could happen to them. Katie's parents thought it couldn't happen to her, but it did.
The issues this book raises are simple: Can you trust people on the Internet today?" "Is it possible to meet someone face-to-face that you have only met throught the Internet?" "Should we exclude young teens from using chat rooms?"
This book is very good. It makes you take time to give the Internet a second look. People may get on just for fun, but you have to watch what you do. It is scary how one girl's life changed in only one day. I think you should never get emotionally involved in a relationship over the Internet, especially when you are young.
Although the beginning of the book is slow and it is somewhat difficult to get into, I would recommend this book to anybody who goes to chat rooms or just to anyone who wants to read a really good book. It is a good lesson to learn from someone else's mistake. I could read it over and over and still find the story line amazing. I found it to be time well spent!
Rating:
Summary: A bit Frightening
Review: The book I read was called Katie.com. The author is Katherine Tarbox, also known as Katie. The book is set in 1996 when the Internet was still new. Katherine Tarbox was a 13-year-old girl (going on 14), with a lot going on in her life. She is from New Cannan, Connecticut where everyone is rich and everyone appears to be beautiful as seen through her eyes. Her mother was getting remarried to a man Katie didn't like. Katie's mother seems like she never has time for her any more. Her stepfather, David, doesn't even give her the time of day. Her best friend, Karen, had a brother who had leukemia. Also, being a competitive swimmer was starting to consume her life. No longer was it fun to go and swim laps. Her coaches were pushing her way to hard to be the best, and when Katie started to plateau as a swimmer she was worried about being dropped. The coaches only kept you around long enough to win matches for them, and when you don't seem to be getting any better they drop you. Katie's life is hectic and filled with confusion. She needed a way to get away from the craziness of her everyday life. She was looking for sanctuary and comfort.
Then one day her older sister Abbey came home from boarding school and brought her computer. Her computer had American Online. Katie was now able to access chat rooms and talk to people all over using the World Wide Web. Katie stayed in the teen chat rooms. She had gone into some other ones but all the people talked about were web cams and sending pictures of themselves to one another. She figured that just staying in the teen chat rooms was the safest place.
She began talking to a guy named Mark, or "Vallleyguy" as he was known on his screen name. He was supposedly a 23 year old from Woodland Hills, California. They talked about everything under the sun, clothes, music, TV shows, and books. Katie finally felt like she had made a friend who thought the same way she did. Her best friend Karen was only interested in boys and her boyfriend Peter. She also seemed to have less time for Katie when Karen's brother was found to have leukemia. Soon Katie and Mark began to call each other and it seemed like a rare occurrence when they didn't talk at least two times a day. Mark knew everything about Katie's thoughts and feelings, and Katie thought she knew everything there was to know about Mark. A few times Mark brought up coming to see Katie or vice versa, but Katie always resisted thinking that maybe it wasn't the right thing to do.
After almost 6 months of chatting, Katie mentioned having a national swim meet in Texas. Mark immediately jumped at the opportunity, telling Katie that he would fly out to Texas to see her. By then Katie felt like she was falling in love with Mark. He seemed like the perfect person over the phone and online so she agreed to meet him in Texas. Little did she know that Mark wasn't as great as he seemed online. In fact, he wasn't who he said he was at all.
I don't want to spoil the end of the book, the twists and turns and ultimate consequences of Katie's meeting with Mark will change her life forever. The scariest part of this book is that it is a true story. This book was written to inform and educate all teens that think that everyone they meet online is trustworthy. I do believe that it is one of the best books I have read lately and I would recommend to all teenagers who use the Internet and even those who don't.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very well written
Review: I didn't "connect" with this book like I usually do with books. Maybe it was because KATIE.COM was a true story, and I don't usually read those, or maybe because I spent the whole time waiting for something to happen but nothing ever did. I knew that eventually Katie got molested by a man she met online, and I thought that part would probably be the climax, near the end. Well, it really happened near the middle, and the rest of the book just wound it all down. I was waiting for this huge exciting part, and it never happened! The first half of the book was pretty cool; it talked abou the internet when it first started. The rest was boring though, very anti-climatic. The beginning was good, but it fizzled out and then dragged on and became uninteresting. KATIE.COM did teach a good message, though. It taught that you should ALWAYS be careful when talking to people on the internet. This is very true. Never try to meet a stranger that you met on the internet; this could turn out very badly, like what happened to Katie. I think that this book shows people to be careful on the internet, and since it is non-fiction it is very believable. The writing style wasn't much good, though, so if you're looking for a fun read, don't choose KATIE.COM
Rating:
Summary: Katie.com review
Review: Katie.com
Katie Tarbox was 13 and she was online in a chat room and met a 23 year old "Mark". Katie had a good life. She was a nationally ranked swimmer and a pianist. Katie lived in New Canaan, Connecticut. Katie is a teen who craves attention and found what she was looking for.
As Katie has been talking to Mark for six months, Katie starts to secretly love Mark. So they planned to meet in Texas for Katie's swim meet. As Katie was in Mark's hotel room, she wasn't prepared for what happened next.
The next two years of Katie's life was losing friends, boarding school, and court. The horrible memories were unbearable for Katie. She dealt with it like no one else would have ever thought.
This book was a great experience and a joy to read. It was great because it shows how important online safety is. If a child is under 13 years of age, its important for parents to realize that kids should have parental controls to keep them safe.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for teens that are involved with chat rooms!
Review: The middle school years are not always easy for pre-teens/teens, even those that appear to have it all. Katherine Tarbox was a 13 year old, eighth grade student in New Canaan, Connecticut, one of the wealthiest towns in the United States. She was a nationally ranked swimmer, had excellent grades, and could have almost anything she wanted, except the attention of her workaholic mother and stepfather. She was lonely until she met "Mark" in a chat room on the internet. He made her feel special. They arranged to meet at a hotel in Texas where she would be staying for a swim meet. She was shocked when he opened the door for her. He was nothing like she expected. His behavior was nothing like she expected or was prepared for. Mark was a "sexual predator" and she was his target.
If you or any of your friends are involved in internet chat rooms, you should read Katie.com. Even if you aren't involved with chat rooms you should read this book. It reinforces for readers how dangerous internet chat rooms can be for teens.
Rating:
Summary: A book every PARENT should read - not just net kids
Review: And learn from it. I've been an internet user since I've been a young kid and altho I thought of myself a savy, street-wise eleven-year-old, I almost fell in the same trap that "Mark" and his pedophile friends set on the web. Several times. I think the only thing that saved me was living on the other side of the planet :)Katie is 13 and not fitting in anywhere - she is not a great student and is starting to fall behind in her swim competitions. She's your typical teen. Except her dad deserted her, that her stepdad can only be describe as a jerk and that her mom spends about 3 hours a day at home. In the midst of all that Katie goes online and meets Mark, who says he is 23; he makes her feel smart and special and she falls in love. When they meet at a swim team Mark turns out to be Francis, a 41 year old who molests her. And guess what - that's the less sensational part of this book. What I thought was so interesting is the reaction of Katie's friends and families. If this had been a TV movie, you'd have seen the whole community of Dorkville, CT, teaming up with the poor kid to help her through the trials. But this is no TV movie - this is real life and Katie lost her friends, got kicked out of the swim team after being humiliated in public, and ended up in counseling. As for the family - I don't understand why Katie dedicated her book to her mother. Instead of trying to understand WHY she took comfort in some stranger over the web, she made Katie feel guilty and guiltier. Without even realizing that if SHE had been there to talk to her daughter once in a while, like mothers are supposed to do, Katie wouldn't have needed some weird guy on the net to confide in. The book ends with a list of privacy-invading "advice" for parents whose kids use the web. I thought it was totally out of line, as if there was one thing this book taught me is that if Katie's family had been more supporting and caring BEFORE the whole Internet fiasco, there wouldn't have been a book to write. I think a list of toll-free numbers for kids who feel left out and loosing touch with reality (like Katie was) would have been more helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Read Katie.com
Review: Katie Tarbox's story of seduction and betrayal by an internet pedophile is a real page-turner. As a young adult I often worry about the people I meet on the internet, but then think "something couldn't happen to me." However, Katie.com shows us that there are Katies and Franks everywhere. I have told my mother, father, sisters, friends, and boyfriend to read this book because it so accurately portrays the ordeals that teenagers face in our society. Katie Tarbox is a true gem with wisdom and insight far beyond her years.
Rating:
Summary: matter over memoir
Review: Being an 18 year old girl, and a survivor of internet addiction, I hope that my review can hold a certain amount of weight.
This story was certainly eye-opening, and the subject matter of internet relationships and paedophilia is very relevant. However, a story, it was disappointing. The writing style was at its best repetitive and immature, and did not integrate the sophistication, vivid use of language, and control that memoir usually delivers.
As a reader and writing, I know that the writing style makes or breaks a book, and even the best written story with the most simple storyline can be excellent.
But after researching this book a little more, I realized that this book was never intended to be a literary masterpiece, it was intended to be a therapy exercise, and certainly a poster for internet safety and internet nannying.
But let's look at it in a positive way- it certainly shows that teenagers can do anything, and even the sloppiest of writing (with a little editing) can be made publishable.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This book was sooooooooo good. it was something that everyone should read. it's creepy that there are people like marc out there. another cool thing was that i live in new canaan and everything was real, even the teachers she dedicated it to in the back of the book
|
