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:

Tattered Cover

Boulder Books

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

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

Thirteen Fast Facts With Jay Asher

After a brief chat with Jay Asher at the SCBWI summer conference, I learned thirteen fast-facts including details on his next project:

13. We all know THIRTEEN REASONS WHY is being made into a movie, but I didn't know the deal happened because Selena Gomez pursued it;

12. Although roles for the film have not yet been cast, Gomez will play Hannah;

11. Asher thinks Gomez is very cool to work with;

10. Asher did not write the screen play, but he served on the committee to interview screenwriters;

9. Asher's next project is called THE FUTURE OF US;
8. He co-wrote THE FUTURE OF US with Carolyn Mackler. Mackler is the author of the Printz award winning book THE EARTH MY BUTT AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS.

I interrupt this count-down for a brief Interviewer Intrusion:With this dream-team, THE FUTURE OF US has to be amazing!

7. I asked if the book was written in a similar fashion to DASH AND LILY'S BOOK OF DARES. Asher said that although they took turns writing chapters, they also dug into one another’s work, edited and even revamped chapters;

6. Asher has been a regular at the SCBWI conference for years. Thirteen Reasons Why is no comedy, but according to Lin Oliver, Jay Asher is one hilarious guy; in fact he was the regular winner of the annual joke contest held during the summer conference. It was during one of these SCBWI conferences prior to Asher getting published when he briefly met Carolyn Mackler (he says he was a big fan). After he was published, Asher blurbed Mackler's name and something regarding TANGLED (Mackler's last novel)...hmmm, I met Asher at a conference...I'm blurbing his book...this must mean that Jay Asher and I have a co-authored book in our future!

5. After seeing what Asher wrote, Mackler contacted Asher and initiated the idea to co-write a book. Asher agreed and they began sending chapters back and forth to create THE FUTURE OF US;

4. They met "live" for the first time at the 2010 SCBWI summer conference where they dressed for the theme evening (Along with Rachel Vail) as the ____ Bo Peeps (you'll have to fill in the blank with your imagination);

3. THE FUTURE OF US is set in 1996. When two teens take their AOL disc and toss it into their computer, the 2011 internet page of Facebook pops up hence releasing a crystal ball into the future;

2. THE FUTURE OF US releases in November, 2011;

1. THE FUTURE OF US has already been optioned for a movie deal.