The Future of The Future of Us

"It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

"Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

"Josh is her best friend.they power up and log on -- and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future."

I loved it, The Future of Us, by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler.

I love that the plot is driven by high school junior Emma's obsession to have a good marriage fifteen years ahead. Emma's motivation is clear: her own parents are divorced and remarried, with lots of complications.

The effects of divorce is just one of the social issues Future explores. There's also homosexuality; stereotypes; teen sex, drinking, drugs.

Who will Emma end up marrying? Will she be happy? What will Emma and Josh do about the future they can see? The six-day mystery unfolds in 65 short chapters, through alternating narrators Emma and Josh. Each chapter is so compelling and fluid that moving through the book is smooth and fast. I never found a good time or place to put it down -- wanted to keep going, had to remind myself to slow down and enjoy each word.

I can see Mackler's call for respecting individuality and complex family dynamics (The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things). And there are threads of Asher's theme of how one small "ripple" affects a lot of other people (13 Reasons Why).

While I might have traded out a couple characters for a little more 1996 -- what everyone was wearing/eating/drinking/watching/doing -- I cherished the details, like the songs that "played" in the story, and the "Wayne's World" part, and the problem with Pluto.

The Future of Us is tight and real, funny and sad. These talented writers marry wit and philosophy, delivering a thought-provoking tale of two teens trying to thrive in a quickly-changing world:

"No matter how small the ripple, the most vulnerable part of the future is going to be our children."

Like!

Just Baby

"How is Rees going to survive when I go to middle school next year?" Daney asked me the other day. "He can't even tie his shoes."

Before Dave and I got married, his mom gave me a book. It was about birth order, by Kevin Leman.

As I read it, I understood why she had given it to me. It was basically her way of telling me that Dave was the baby of the family, that he had inherent flaws because of it, that it wasn't his fault, and how to handle him.

Because I was a firstborn (of 8!), Dave and I were destined to be a perfect match.
Firstborns and firstborns was deadly, babies and babies: disaster.

That book has made a huge impact on me. I've been able to tell when my students-- from first grade through seventh, and even in community college--are, especially, babies.

Since I'm a firstborn, I'm fascinated by the baby: carefree, disorganized, social, and funny. My dad is a baby, as is my brother, Mackie, and my aunt, Jeanne.

My friend, Karlee, and I frequently dismiss the folly and flops of our youngests as excusable. Since Reesie and Derek are babies, and all.

The thing about babies is that they will always be babies.

They never have to grow up.

This is the exact opposite of firstborns; we came into the world with rules and lists and stop watches.

In my boy book, my character is a firstborn. He has to be. Not only is there external pressure for him to succeed, but there's internal pressure, too.

That wouldn't happen with the baby of a family.

But, in Carolyn Mackler's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, the narrator, Virginia, couldn't be anything but the baby.

The baby is always competing. For attention, for love, for the last of the fresh-pressed apple juice.

In essence, the baby will never learn, because he doesn't have to--someone else will do it for him--how to tie his shoes.


What is the birth order of your character?

How does this define and motivate him?