Book Tour 2011: Colorado

For the past two days, I've been running around Colorado. It's my first time in this state, other than a quick layover, and it's absolutely beautiful. Next time, I hope to get more time to stare at those mountains (several hours a day would be nice).

My first stop was Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins, which was a very impressive campus to explore.



That night, I spoke at Council Tree Library, with Old Firehouse Books selling the books.


After my presentation, I headed to Old Chicago with my longtime pals, Eric and Anna.


Knowing people around the country means I get taken to the yummiest spots where the locals eat. Check out these nachos!


The next day, I spoke at two schools in Loveland. Loveland High School (with books provided by Anthology Book Company)...



...and Mountain View High School.


I rounded out my trip to Colorado with a signing at Barnes & Noble in Boulder. Upcoming YA author (and sister-in-agency), Emily Hainsworth is seated on the far right.


Today, I'll be in Austin for the Texas Book Festival, which is the last stop on my book tour. It looks like it should be a very fun day.

And then, I'm heading home!

Future Friday #9: Winner

Congratulations to YA Reader for being randomly selected to win the ninth round of Future Friday giveaways! To claim your goodies, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever@aol.com. If you don't know who Emma Nelson is, you will when you start reading The Future of Us!

If she could experience any week in history, she would go all the way back...to Thursday.

Yes, of this week.

That way, she could let her St. Louis Cardinals know that the 9th inning is going to be rough.

See ya next Friday for another chance to win an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Future of Us!

Future Friday #9: One Week

[To keep the Future Fridays rolling on schedule, I'll highlight both of my Colorado book tour stops (Fort Collins & Boulder) in one post on Saturday.]


To countdown the release of The Future of Us (November 21st!), Carolyn Mackler and I will give away one autographed Advance Reader’s Copy every week. Along with the autographed copy (signed by both of us), we’ll toss in another goodie that's book-related.

For our ninth giveaway, the bonus item is a box of 28 wooden dominoes. Metaphorically, our book is very much domino-related. One character even mentions The Domino Theory while sitting in a pizza restaurant (but not Domino's Pizza, cuz that'd be taking the domino-thing too far). Do you remember the last time you set up a line of dominoes and then watched them all fall? Don't you think it's about time to do it again?


We'll randomly select one person who comments on this Future Friday post to receive both prizes. There’s no need to leave your email address, but do check back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.

This week, we want to take you time traveling. In our book, over one week, Josh and Emma glimpse their lives fifteen years in the future. But we want to know, rather than glimpse your future (which you've already told us about), if you could physically spend one week at any time in history, when and where would it be?

Here are our answers:

JAY:
In the mid-80s, a lot of bands I later worshiped in high school were relatively unknown, playing small clubs in L.A. I'd love to find one week packed with their shows and live out my teen fantasy of seeing them before they got big. But I'd feel so cheesy wasting a time travel opportunity on that. Instead, I'd travel to Philadelphia, beginning on July 2, 1776, and finishing on July 8 when the Declaration of Independence was first read aloud to the public, with bells ringing across the city all day.

CAROLYN:
I would say it's a toss up between a week with Laura Ingalls and her family on the prairie, the summer of 1969 (during the moon landing or Woodstock), and a week of myself in junior high. I would pull myself aside and tell myself who to ignore, what to actually care about, and - for the love of god - scrounge together your allowance and buy real estate in Manhattan!

Book Tour 2011: Minnetonka

In most cities on this tour, the person driving me from event to event is a 'media escort' who's driven a whole bunch of authors/actors/singers around when they're in town. It's fun to hear about the people who once sat in the very same passenger seat as me. But on this stop, I was lucky enough to have my good friend Jessica Freeburg driving me around. Between events, she took me to all the cool spots in the Twin Cities. (At least, they're the coolest spots to me!)

For example, the Mall of America. That place is huge! If you've never heard of it, check out these facts. Yes, they have an amusement park in the mall.


The highlight for me was a place I've been reading about since I was a kid. Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, used to live in an apartment above his dad's barbershop. There's a bar there now, but I've wanted to visit this spot for years...and I finally got the chance!


My inner-child did The Snoopy Dance as I toasted the comics on the wall with a glass of Snoopy's favorite drink. Root beer!


So far on this tour, the Minnetonka public library brought out the biggest crowd, which always translates into more energy (making it harder to fall asleep when I get back to the hotel).


And a big thanks to Wild Rumpus for handling the book sales.


Well, now it's finally time to force myself to get some sleep. Tomorrow is my stop in Fort Collins, where I'm hoping to have dinner with one of my favorite people (who just happens to be an author).

Book Tour 2011: Cincinnati

I've never had this much fun on so little sleep. Last night, I took a red-eye flight from Seattle (11:40pm) to Cincinnati (8:50am) with a brief layover in Chicago. With the three hour time difference, that meant I began the very full day with very little sleep. But the adrenaline kept me movin'!

First stop, Gamble Montessori High School. That place had some of the coolest teachers I've seen, and the students asked some of the best questions. I started by speaking to a group of 7th graders...


...and then a class of seniors.


At the main branch of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County library, which has an awesome waterfall out front...


...I attended a pizza party with members of their reading group. It's not a book club where everyone reads the same book, but everyone talks about their favorite latest reads. And I came away with a few great titles to check out.


Based on consistent recommendations by my Facebook friends, I grabbed a second bite to eat at Skyline Cafe. Chili-covered spaghetti is so yummy!


While my hotel didn't have signed books by authors who've stayed there (like the past two) or funky robes (like the last one), it did have Tent City from the local Occupy Movement (Occupy Cincy) right outside.


Then it was back to the library for the main event.


Joseph-Beth Booksellers handled the book sales, and here I am with Annette from JBB.


Once again, I had a great time speaking to and speaking with everyone who showed up.


And now it's off to bed, because I have to get up a little before 5am.

You're up next, Minnetonka!

Book Tour 2011: Seattle

On the way to catch my flight in the Portland airport, I noticed a great display of original Looney Tunes art. One drawing in particular caught my attention because of its relation to Josh's character in The Future of Us, which (in case I haven't told you lately) I can't wait for you to read!


My hotel room in Seattle, similar to yesterday's hotel, was full of books autographed by authors who had previously stayed there. But this hotel, unlike the other one, also had very funky robes in the closet.


There was a special guest on this leg of the tour, and while she apparently had the same robes in her room, she (for some reason) didn't think of photographing herself in one. Carolyn Mackler flew out from NYC so we could visit the Amazon headquarters...


...and film a video that should be posted on their website soon (I'm sure you all know the address).


After grabbing lunch with local author Kristin Halbrook and coffee with Cat Patrick (where I got an advance copy of her next awesome book!), it was off to the Greenwood Public Library for the main event! (Thanks, University Book Store, for handling the book sales.)


Kristin and Cat were both in the audience, along with my very special co-author. But few people knew Carolyn was also in the audience until near the end of my presentation when I began speaking about our book and introduced her. Then she walked up front (to great applause) to continue the presentation with me, and we each finished about a dozen of the other person's sentences.

Next stop (by myself)...Cincinnati!

Book Tour 2011: Portland

My flight up to Portland was a bit rocky, but it's hard to mind (too much) with views like this...


When I got to my hotel room, there was a copy of Thirteen Reasons Why on the table for me to sign. The Heathman Hotel has a library of books signed by authors who've stayed there. With over 2,000 autographed books that guests can check out during their stay, I added one more.


I went out to brunch with my niece, nephew, and sissy-in-law (Genevieve, Ellory, and Gypsy), then chilled out at the hotel for a few minutes before my first stop on the book tour, Powell's in Beaverton. If you weren't able to make it, shame on you! But...I did sign a bunch of books before I left, so go grab one.


It was a very fun crowd, and they asked great questions (a couple questioners even got an advance reading copy of The Future of Us), which made it a perfect event for my family to attend. Every time the audience laughed, I wanted to turn to my family and say, "Did you see that? They think I'm funny!"

But I played it cool.

As a special bonus, though I was far away from home, one of my friends from high school came out to the event. Great seeing you again, Ron!


This was a wonderful way to kick-off the tour.

You're next, Seattle!

Book Tour Reminder

The first stop on my weeklong book tour is today!

I'll be speaking/signing in 7 cities around the country over the next week, with a few more stops in the weeks to come. So click the Speaking Schedule tab beneath the blogheader to see if I'll be near you. If so, you'd better come and say hi!

And I'll be posting pics throughout the tour, so stay tuned...

Future Friday #8: Winner

Congratulations to YA Book Queen for being randomly selected to win the eighth round of Future Friday giveaways! To claim your goodies, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever@aol.com. If you don't know who Emma Nelson is, you will when you start reading The Future of Us!

Here are the songs from 1996 that most stand out to Ms. Queen, along with her excellent commentary:

One Headlight by The Wallflowers – I love the lyrics for this one, they always seem to evoke different possible meanings.

Any of Sublime’s songs – always somewhat twisted, but intriguing.

California Love by Tupac – It’s pretty much a law for all Californian’s to love this ;)

King Nothing by Metlallica – the music in this is awesome! :D

And the song that stands out to the most number of commenters is...



See ya next Friday for another chance to win an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Future of Us!

Future Friday #8: Songs

To countdown the release of The Future of Us (November 21st!), Carolyn Mackler and I will give away one autographed Advance Reader’s Copy every week. Along with the autographed copy (signed by both of us), we’ll toss in another goodie that's book-related.

For our eighth giveaway, the bonus item is Sleepover Party Mad Libs. Our main characters, Josh and Emma, probably played Mad Libs during many of their childhood sleepovers. (And yes, the sleepovers stopped long before they became teenagers.)


We'll randomly select one person who comments on this Future Friday post to receive both prizes. There’s no need to leave your email address, but do check back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.

This week, we want to know which songs, good or bad, stand out the most to you that were released in 1996. If you were too young (or too old) to be into music then, you'll still probably know at least a few of these songs.

Here are our answers:

CAROLYN:
As Cool As I Am by Dar Williams because that is such a fun and empowering song. No, it's not a song. It's an anthem!
Crash Into Me by The Dave Matthews Band. I love it. Emma loves it. We all love Dave.
One of Us by Joan Osborne because it's just deep. It is.

JAY:
I Want You by Savage Garden: If this came on, no matter what I was doing, I had to sing the “Chicka-Cherry-Cola” line.
Right Hand Man by Joan Osborne: Just rocks. Her voice is so deep down sexy!
Wannabe by The Spice Girls: My little bro did this in a Mock Rock competition with his friends. He was Posh Spice. You almost couldn’t hear the song over the screaming audience.

The Danish Edition!

The Indonesian Edition!

Future Friday #7: Winner

Congratulations to Grace Amanda for being randomly selected to win the seventh round of Future Friday giveaways! To claim your goodies, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever@aol.com. If you don't know who Emma Nelson is, you will when you start reading The Future of Us!

Grace's favorite movie featuring time travel is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.



And the movie chosen by the most number of commenters (as it should've been!)...



Wouldn't you know it, both Back to the Future and Harry Potter get referenced in The Future of Us. Speaking of which, we'll see ya next Friday for another chance to win your own Advanced Reader's Copy!

Future Friday #7: Time Travel Movies

To countdown the release of The Future of Us (November 21st!), Carolyn Mackler and I will give away one autographed Advance Reader’s Copy every week. Along with the autographed copy (signed by both of us), we’ll toss in another goodie that's book-related.

For our seventh giveaway, the bonus items are Bigfoot and Penguin breathmints. No, none of our characters have bad breath. In fact, our fictional world is full of minty fresh mouths. But there is a passing Bigfoot comment in the book, and Penguin is a very cool (pepperminty cool!) publishing house.


We'll randomly select one person who comments on this Future Friday post to receive both prizes. There’s no need to leave your email address, but do check back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.

This week, we want to know your favorite time travel movies. Here's a fairly thorough sampling of those movies from the past. Of course, there will be more great titles added to that list...in the future.

Here are our answers:

JAY:
Back to the Future: Heck, my first skateboard was a Valterra splatterboard, just like the one Marty McFly rolled around on. That's how much I love this movie! Groundhog Day: Everytime I see it, I'm shocked at how perfectly it blends sweet and funny. A Christmas Carol: I can watch and love almost any version of this timeless (HA!) story at any time of the year.

CAROLYN:
Back to the Future because it was completely awesome and we discussed it practically daily while writing The Future of Us. Peggy Sue Got Married because the Nicholas Cage character was such a freakin' mess as an adult, and yet so endearingly cute as a teen. Midnight in Paris, which I haven't seen, but I've been going crazy all summer and fall because I haven't seen it and I know I'll love it. Does that make sense? It doesn't to me either. I should go see it tonight. Unless it's left the theaters.

Backstage to the Future: The Codename

[First in a series of posts about collaborating on The Future of Us with Carolyn Mackler.]


Last year, on April 5, Carolyn sent me a very simple email:

I have a semi-crazy idea to run by you. Now a good time?

I’d given a quote for Carolyn’s latest novel, Tangled, but other than that, we didn’t know each other. Still, she was one of my favorite authors, so of course I wanted to hear her crazy idea. Even though neither of us had ever tried writing a novel with someone else, that was her crazy idea. And since I love crazy ideas, I thought we should give it a shot!

We both knew the collaboration could fall apart. Just because we were fans of each other’s books didn’t mean we could write well together. We wanted to come up with a premise and write a few chapters before letting anyone know what we were up to. If we couldn’t agree upon a premise, or didn’t mesh well creatively, no one would have to know we’d even tried.

To go along with the clandestine feel of the operation, we needed a codename. So we jumbled up the combined letters of JAY ASHER and CAROLYN MACKLER and began referring to this as a project of the…


Carolyn’s Two Cents: My first cent is a question, Jay. Should I read into it that in your first paragraph you wrote Carolyn once followed by crazy three times? Three times! And hey, you have to admit it wasn’t such a crazy idea after all. We had a blast (but more on that later). My second cent is the whole Harmony Alley Carjackers thing. Remember how I originally thought that you scrambled the letters of our names by yourself and I chocked you up as some kind of genius? But then you told me you used a web program to do it. Not that you’re not a genius, of course.

Future Friday #6: Winner

Congratulations to Jasmine for being randomly selected to win the sixth round of Future Friday giveaways! To claim your goodies, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever@aol.com. If you don't know who Emma Nelson is, you will when you start reading The Future of Us!

If she could re-experience any birthday, Jasmine would go back to her 13th. That year, she got an electric guitar and her parents took her to Radio City Music Hall to see Alicia Keyes and John Legend as a surprise.

And now, for my birthday, you won this contest. Surprise!!!

See ya next Friday for another chance to win an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Future of Us!

Future Friday #6: Birthday

To countdown the release of The Future of Us (November 21st!), Carolyn Mackler and I will give away one autographed Advance Reader’s Copy every week. Along with the autographed copy (signed by both of us), we’ll toss in another goodie that's book-related.


For our sixth giveaway, the bonus item is Tuck Everlasting. Not only is Ms. Babbitt's novel one of our favorites, it even gets mentioned within our own novel.

We'll randomly select one person who comments on this Future Friday post to receive both prizes. There’s no need to leave your email address, but do check back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.

This week, because today is my 36th birthday (Oh, thank you!), we want to know which birthday you'd like to re-experience or pre-experience (yes, pre-experience). If you had a memorable birthday in the past and want another go at it, let us know how old you were and why you want go back. If you're curious about a birthday in the future, let us know how old you'll be and what you hope to learn.

Here are our answers:

CAROLYN: I would time-travel back to my 16th birthday. And not because it was perfect. No, it was anything but. On my 16th birthday, I was in the Bahamas with my dear friend and her mom. Her family had a time-share condo that we were staying in for the week. The night before my birthday, we went out to dinner and I ate something completely non-memorable. But when I woke up in the morning - the morning I turned 16 - I was puking. I puked and puked and puked for my entire 16th birthday. When I wasn't puking I was laying in a dark room with a cool washcloth on my head. At some point, my friend's mom brought out a chocolate cake and maybe put candles in it, but I couldn't even look at it. And that was that. I went to bed for the night. Basically I want to go back to the night before my 16th birthday and not eat that meal and not get food poisoning and then have, yes, my non-puking sweet sixteen.

JAY: I'd love to look fourteen years into the future. I assume my 50th b-day bash will be a biggie, so it'd be nice to see who shows up for the party...and see if I recognize them. (But if someone isn't there, what does that mean?) I'd also like to get a sense of what's going on career-wise at 50. Unfortunately, having spent so much time discussing the issue of future-peeking with Carolyn to write our book, I know the repercussions can totally backfire. But I still want to know!

October Tour Dates

During the 2011 Teen Read Week, I'll be speaking and signing books across the country, flying to six different states. If you live anywhere near one of my stops, I would love to meet you!Location and time specifics are posted at the Thirteen Reasons Why Facebook page, so be sure to Like it to receive all updates. And you can always learn about my upcoming events by clicking the Speaking Schedule tab near the top of my blog.


(If one of you can see an image in the constellation above and give it a good name, I'll use that as the nickname for this tour and send you a signed paperback of Thirteen Reasons Why.)

On Your Mark, Get Set...

Isaiah's 9.5 months old today. Last night he took three steps toward a footstool, which made me about the proudest I've ever been of anyone (after the whole JoanMarie-giving-birth thing).

But then I grabbed the camera and he suddenly felt the pressure because he knew you'd all be watching.

So for now, there's this...

Future Friday #5: Winner

Congratulations to Kendall Johnson for being randomly selected to win the fifth round of Future Friday giveaways! To claim your goodies, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever@aol.com. If you don't know who Emma Nelson is, you will when you start reading The Future of Us!

In this contest, the most frequently mentioned favorite show from 1996 was Boy Meets World. But Kendall's favorite shows, as seen in reruns, have two of the most memorable theme songs of the decade. (Cool Fact: both of these shows are mentioned in our book!)




See ya next Friday for another chance to win an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Future of Us!

Future Friday #5: TV

To countdown the release of The Future of Us (November 21st!), Carolyn Mackler and I will give away one autographed Advance Reader’s Copy every week. Along with the autographed copy (signed by both of us), we’ll toss in another goodie that's book-related.

For our fifth giveaway, the bonus item is Archie #624 ("Geek Face-off!" Dilton vs. Mark Zuckerberg!). Can I assume you know our book's Zuckerberg/Facebook connection? Well, there's an Archie connection, too!


We'll randomly select one person who comments on this Future Friday post to receive both prizes. There’s no need to leave your email address, but do check back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.

This week, we want to know your favorite TV show that originally aired in 1996. If you were old enough to watch TV back then, what show did you never miss? If you were too young in the mid-90s, what show would you watch if you stumbled upon a rerun today? Here's a sample prime-time TV schedule for the 1995-96 season. The sample doesn't include cable, so if your favorite show aired on cable in 1996, we still want to know!

Here are our answers:

JAY:
I'm not embarrassed to admit my answer. I'm not! (So why am I defending it before I even tell you what it is?) I never missed an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. I made fun of my friends in high school for watching it, but when they're all watching, I had to watch just to join their conversations. Within a couple episodes, I was hooked! Brandon, Brenda, and the crew were in the Class of 93 just like me. But while Steve drove a Corvette, I drove a Camaro. And I stayed a faithful viewer through their (and my) college years. Not ashamed!

CAROLYN:
1996 was a nomadic year for me. It was the year after college and I lived in a few different cities, couch-surfing much of the time. I didn't have a TV that year. If I was fortunate to crash a home with a TV I'd watch Seinfeld and Friends. It felt like such a treat!

Contests Goin' On!

Attention teens, teachers, and librarians!

Here's a quick reminder about a couple of awesome contests still going on:

Picture It @ your library
sponsored by: Young Adult Library Services Association (Teen Read Week)
object of contest: create a visual version of your favorite book's title
grand prize: e-reader pre-loaded with great teen titles
for more info: click here
to see my sample entry: click here


STAND UP instead of standing by!
sponsored by: Booksourse
object of contest: choose a character from select books and respond to either the victim or the bully in a poem, a song, or an essay
grand prize: a school or library visit from...me!
for more info: click here


And now for some quick links to other things you may be interested in and not yet know about:

Thirteen Reasons Why Project
My Facebook fan page
Thirteen Reasons Why Facebook fan page
The Future of Us Facebook fan page

You Say Aloha & I Say Aloha

JoanMarie, Isaiah, and I recently returned from a place where it's not too difficult to find Spam-flavored macadamia nuts.


Unless you know of another Spam obsessed location, I'm obviously talking about Hawaii! It was the first time there for all three of us. Here's the airplane view of our first stop: Maui.


The five-hour flight from California required distracting Isaiah with lots of toys and plenty of walks down the aisle. Every couple of rows, someone would stick out their hand to tickle his belly and tell him how adorable he is, which made him ask for more and more walks.


The place we stayed had several pools very close to the beach. Something I found interesting were the reading preferences of the people relaxing at both bodies of water. About 80% of the pool crowd preferred ereaders. 100% of the beach crowd preferred books.


While I didn't get much reading done in Hawaii, I did spend much more time in water than I usually do. The ocean water felt nearly as perfect tempurature-wise as the pool water.


The reason we were in Hawaii, the country's 50th state and birthplace of President Obama (oh, please don't start that again), was for the beachside wedding of our good friends, Aaron and Mindy.


Also in attendance, Mindy's brother, Tyson. He loosely inspired one of my favorite characters in the much-anticipated upcoming novel, The Future of Us by What's-his-name and What's-her-name. The character he inspired, in case you've already read the book, is...um...oh, right...Tyson!


After the wedding, we went to a very fun luau.


The food was amazing and the dancing coconuts were stunning.


At the end of our trip to Maui, we took a short hike to Twin Falls. The water here was a little bit colder, and since I'm a water weenie, I held Isaiah while JoanMarie went for a swim out to the falling water. (No, that's not her topless behind me. That's a dude.)


Then we went to the airport and island-hopped over to Kona on the big island to visit some family. Here's my Aunt Ikumi, Uncle Kevin, and cousins Tai and Tomi.


Aunt Ikumi handmade JoanMarie and I a couple of absolutely beautiful leis, which we had to take off when Isaiah mistook them for teething-necklaces.


Uncle Kevin gave me my very first guitar when I was younger, a Fender Stratocaster, and his home is full of guitars and drums. My li'l drummer boy loved it!


When we went out to dinner, Isaiah could be occupied (for a little while) by handing him his latest favorite book, Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes.


We spent several hours at a little cove, either snorkeling or relaxing in the shade of trees. We don't have many trees on our California beaches. And the water here was even warmer than on Maui.



Isaiah even took his first boogie board lesson.


Fully adjusted to the new time zone, on our way back home, Isaiah was still full of energy late at night during our layover in San Francisco.



Aloha!

Future Friday #4: Winner

Congratulations to Emily for being randomly selected to win the fourth round of Future Friday giveaways! To claim your goodies, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever@aol.com. If you don't know who Emma Nelson is, you will when you start reading The Future of Us!

In 15 years, Emily would like to see "bicycles as plentiful as cars in the cities and green roofs on every house or building." She also wants her books to get great reviews.

We'd like to see those things come true, too!

See ya next Friday for another chance to win an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Future of Us!

Future Friday #4: Issues

To countdown the release of The Future of Us (November 21st!), Carolyn Mackler and I will give away one autographed Advance Reader’s Copy every week. Along with the autographed copy (signed by both of us), we’ll toss in another goodie that's book-related.

For our fourth giveaway, the bonus item is a DVD of The Social Network. Whereas the movie was about the founding of Facebook, our novel is about the Facebook of today, as viewed by teens before it was founded. (Confused? You won't be when you read the book!)


We'll randomly select one person who comments on this Future Friday post to receive both prizes. There’s no need to leave your email address, but do check back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.

This week, we're not asking you about the past, we want you to think about the future. At one point in The Future of Us, a character says she wouldn't want to see into the future because it might be depressing if certain things haven't changed. But let's be positive! If you could see fifteen years into the future, what issues do you hope won't be issues anymore?

Here are our answers:

CAROLYN: I'd love to see global warming being addressed more thoroughly, and a less polarized government. I'd like to see the threat of terrorism gone, and for gay marriage to be just as accepted as straight marriage. I'd like bullying to be eradicated, and the economy to be hopping and people to stop texting during conversations and - yes, I have to say it! - I'd love the real story on Brad and Angelina and that brood of kids. Who is raising them? And how do they always look so good after getting off a 10-hour flight?

JAY: In my fantasy future, the commitment to pursuing cleaner forms of energy is not an issue. We're doing it! People are healthier, the environment is safer, and we've created a ton of new jobs. I've gotta say, it's pretty nice.

A Publishers Weekly Starred Review!

Carolyn Mackler and I had a very fun phone conversation the other day. I hadn't checked my email in a while, so she broke the news of our first major review by reading it to me. At the conclusion of Carolyn's wonderful read-aloud from Publishers Weekly, we both finally admitted how nervously we'd been anticipating this moment.

And for the rest of the day, we kept sending each other electronic high-fives!

(Starred Review) The Future of Us
Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. Razorbill, $18.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-59514-491-1

With collaborators like these, readers expect an ingenious hook, compelling characters, and thought-provoking content, and these two top-of-their-game authors don't disappoint. It's 1996, and high school junior Emma and her neighbor Josh are BFFs until an awkward, romantic moment creates tension. Then Emma gets a new computer and an AOL CD-ROM, which somehow allow her to access her future Facebook page when she goes online. She and Josh are able to read about what their lives will be like in 15 years, but what's more, they discover that they can affect those future lives by their thoughts and actions in the present, a sobering realization with far-reaching consequences for the teenagers. Asher and Mackler's concept is fascinating--how closely today is tied to tomorrow--and the alternating voices of the two main characters keep each chapter fresh and provide distinct perspectives on the events of the story. Though readers will not necessarily be surprised by how things turn out, the enjoyment--and the underlying message--is in simply allowing the journey to unfold. Ages 12-up. (Nov.)

Future Friday #3: Winner

Congratulations to Small Town Shelly Brown for being randomly selected to win the third round of Future Friday giveaways! To claim your goodies, send your mailing address to EmmaNelson4Ever@aol.com. If you don't know who Emma Nelson is, you will when you start reading The Future of Us!

Ms. Small Town's personal faves published in 1996 were Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren and Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim's Birthday. And because she's a great older sister, she also enjoyed reading Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse to her little sister.

See ya next Friday for another chance to win an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Future of Us!

Future Friday #3: Books

To countdown the release of The Future of Us (November 21st!), Carolyn Mackler and I will give away one autographed Advance Reader’s Copy every week. Along with the autographed copy (signed by both of us), we’ll toss in another goodie that's book-related.

For our third giveaway, the bonus item is a two-pack of disposable cameras. How are disposable cameras related to the book? I guess you'll have to read it to find out!


We'll randomly select one person who comments on this Future Friday post to receive both prizes. There’s no need to leave your email address, but do check back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.

This week, we want to know your favorite books that came out in 1996. Don't tell us the books you want to read because it'll spoil a future Future Friday. Tell us about the books (up to three) that you did read. If for some odd reason you don't remember which books came out in 1996, here's a good reminder.

And here are our answers:

JAY:
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I read this at a time when I was uncertain of what I wanted to do with my life. After finishing the book, I still had no idea, but I knew I didn't want to hitchhike to Alaska and live off the land (even if Eddie Vedder would compose the soundtrack of my life).
Frindle by Andrew Clements. Such a basic idea taken to extremes. At the time, I was trying to write manuscripts for this age group, and this book made me very jealous.

CAROLYN:
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding because I was single and living in a city and feeling like a big screw-up half the time. I totally identified with Bridget!
Loose Change by Sara Davidson. This didn't come out until 1997, but I was working as an intern at a magazine in the summer of 1996 and the advance copy came in the mail. It's about three young women in the 1960s - couldn't put it down.