Margot Mertz Takes It Down by Carrie McCrossen & Ian McWethy

After her uncle loses her entire college fund in a shonky business deal, Margot Mertz starts her own side hustle doing what she does best: removing embarrassing content from the internet.

Teachers, fellow students and normal citizens come to her when they find themselves virtually exposed and needing a clean-up job. With the help of her computer genius friend, Sammi, no job is too large for Margot Mertz, and she’s earning a ton of money to pay for college. That is, until the day a female student tells Margot about a revenge-porn site that features many girls from their high school, with explicit photos posted without their knowledge or permission. Margot is utterly furious and determined to take it down. But she’ll need handsome jock Avery Green to pose as her boyfriend as she tries to infiltrate the computers of the likeliest offenders. And Margot has a few lessons to learn about her own in-built biases and assumptions about others, not to mention her own proclivity for breaking the law just to get the job done.

This all sounds very serious but there is so much humour in this book. Margot is brilliant and extremely funny, as are many of the secondary characters. Mix the sass of Veronica Mars with the feminist credentials of Moxie and you approach something close to the vibe of our protagonist Margot Mertz. Watching her ‘Take It Down’ will cause the reader to cheer from the sidelines while also having a heap of fun. Suitable for readers ages 12+.


Angela Crocombe is a children’s and YA specialist for Readings online and the buyer for Readings Kids.