The Future of Us | Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

This is obviously the summer of the light teen romance, because here is another one!

It’s 1996 and Emma gets a new computer from her Dad complete with Windows 95. Her neighbour and best friend, Josh gives her a CD-Rom for free online access.

But when she sets up her email account and logs on…Emma ends up on this weird page where everyone is leaving random personal status reports…including herself. It’s 15 years in the future and she has checked into her facebook page.

The problem is, Emma doesn’t like what she sees there. (Although Josh is delighted to find out that he is married to the hottest girl in school!)

And so begins a light-hearted romp through teen angst and the idea that each small event in our lives has unforeseen effects that ripple into the future.

There are some mild sexual references and ‘Wayne’s World’ quotes – so beware!

_{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.}