Branton Middle School bans cell phones, confident it will curb many problems caused by words. Words that bully, humiliate, and distract students from learning.

Reacting to the ban and hyped by a teacher’s assignment, students post sticky notes around the school with an eye to aphorisms, phrases stating important truths. Like “Actions speak louder than words.”

In John David Anderson’s Posted, the sticky-note idea gains traction, with students posting them all over lockers, walls, bathroom stalls. Everywhere.

Then one message goes too far, moving beyond humiliation to become a dart that deeply harms one boy in a tribe of four close friends. The new girl, Rose, who has crashed the boys’ group, intervenes.

“The Gauntlet,” a steep forested hill, takes center stage. Then a race. The loser really loses.

It all comes down to two words that the author left hanging almost long enough to make me skip ahead.

But I’m glad I waited.

Using a boy nicknamed Frost to tell the story, Anderson weaves a compelling tale with lessons for everyone, even if we don’t attend middle school.