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Kim Tomsic

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Future of Us: Hagen Daz at Carrot Calories

THE FUTURE OF US: Review by Kim Tomsic         

         It's a book that offers two for the price of one! The Future of Us by Carolyn Mackler and Jay Asher will capture your imagination within nanoseconds. You couldn't possibly expect anything less; Mackler and Asher are two of YA’s best authors. Smoosh together The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things with Thirteen Reasons Why and the result is crafty innovation--The Future of Us.
      
Jacket flap: It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail,his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future.

By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. And as they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right - and wrong - in the present

     Enjoying Mackler and Asher’s combined talent is like paying for an iPad and getting a free iPhone thrown in the mix; it’s like eating Hagen Daz plus crème brulee at the cost of carrot calories; it’s like paying for Ramada, but staying at the Four Seasons. You get my point.

The Future of Us is told in two alternating first person points of view: high school juniors Emma and Josh. Furthermore it’s told in the unusual format of present tense, which makes the stakes feel high. 
Many plot points keep the pages turning in this exciting book--for example there's the nostalgal of life before texting, before caller ID and before Pluto was axed off the list of planets. There's also the thrilling side of the book when readers conjure the heap of possibilities in their own life, possibilities that could be if glimpsing the future was possible.

The Future of Us, written by two award winning SCBWI members,  is a must read and easily earns a five out of five lollipop rating.
Available at:


ISBN-10: 1595144919
ISBN-13: 9781595144911
Published: Razorbill, 11/21/2011

3 comments:

Julie Hedlund said...

Great review Kim! I love your analogies too.

Susanna Leonard Hill said...

Hi Kim - thanks so much for visiting my blog and joining! This is quite a site you have here! Maybe we could have a good link-up what with my Perfect Picture Book Friday posts!

Kim Tomsic said...

Hi, Julie...thank you!

Hello, Susanna! That's a fun idea. How do we make that happen?

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