Off the Shelf 0607-5

So Yesterday
By Scott Westerfeld
© 2004

This is a cool book.

Well, I think it’s cool, but I’m not sure…

So Yesterday is a story about a teenager named Hunter, who works for a company identifying hot trends in advertising, music, and products. Hunter is a Trendsetter – the second highest type of person on the “Cool Pyramid.” At the top are the Innovators; after the Trendsetters come the Early Adopters, then the Consumers, and finally the Laggards. He gets caught up in a mystery when his boss goes missing at the same time that Hunter discovers the coolest shoes he’s ever seen… and then he gets dragged into a world that may or may not be real, in which he may or may not be in danger.

Along the way, this very entertaining and cleverly-written thriller has a lot to say about status symbols, peer pressure, how trends are born and die, and how corporations manipulate all that in an attempt to sell more product. Hunter and his friends are smart, and smart-alecky, intelligent and sarcastic – in a word, cool. And that makes the book cool.

At least, I think it’s cool – but then, I’m just a Consumer, so maybe I’m not a good one to judge…

* 2006 Florida Teen Read Book
My recommendation: 4 out of 5 stars

Submitted by Jeanette Johnson, LWTHS & LWIT Principal