*Starred Review* Popular authors Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why, 2007) and Mackler (The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, 2003) combine the mass appeal of Facebook with a thoughtful meditation on how current ideas and actions can change our futures. It's 1996, and Emma Nelson has just received her first computer. Next-door-neighbor and best-friend Josh gives her a free AOL CD-ROM to try with it. When Emma powers up the computer, she discovers her own Facebook page (even though Facebook doesn't exist yet) and herself in an unhappy marriage 15 years in the future. Alternating first-person chapters from Josh and Emma over the course of five days propel this riveting read, as Emma discovers she can alter her future by adjusting her present actions and intentions. Josh's future as a wealthy graphic designer happily married to the hottest girl at their high school ought to please him but he's in love with Emma and has been for some time. Emma now, as in the future, can't commit to her own happiness and so ignores her similar feelings for Josh, instead hopping from one shallow relationship to another. Mackler and Asher explore a hypnotic facet of Facebook the ability to stalk our friends and transform it with a clever, timely story that will attract any teen with a Facebook account.--Carton, Debbie Copyright 2010 Booklist

It's 1996: think Discmans, Green Day, new episodes of Seinfeld, and America Online CD-ROMs. When Emma Nelson loads an AOL disk into her computer, she's surprised to see something called "Facebook" pop up. After some investigation, Emma and her best friend, Josh, discover that Facebook allows them to see what happens to them -- and their friends and family -- fifteen years in the future. According to their profiles, Emma is married, apparently unhappily, and Josh is married to a gorgeous classmate, with two kids and a lakefront house. But their futures are fragile, and easily changed. After Emma locates and calls her future husband, she logs on to find that she's now married to someone else; after Emma and Josh fight, Josh disappears from Emma's "friend" list. Though the cultural references can be quite heavy-handed, the story is carefully constructed and works on many levels: an identity quest, a romance, a commentary on 2011 culture ("Why would anyone say this stuff about themselves on the Internet?" Josh asks. "It's crazy!"). Emma and Josh's alternating narration keeps the plot moving, and their incredulous reactions to status updates about blogs, Netflix, and smartphones are sure to make technology-saturated readers chuckle. rachel l. smith From HORN BOOK, Copyright The Horn Book, used with permission.

Thirteen Reasons Why, 2007) and Mackler's (Tangled, 2010) fantasy, told from both Emma and Josh's perspectives, makes for an entertaining but ultimately disappointing read. Focusing almost entirely on the teens' future love lives, the authors neglect 1996-era subplots involving the teens' friends and families that might have given the story additional depth and immediacy. Without question a page-turner, it's nevertheless unlikely to linger long in readers' minds. (Fantasy. 13 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 8 Up-The year is 1996. Josh and Emma, lifelong best friends and neighbors, are in the midst of sorting out their awkward, possibly romantic feelings for one another when Emma receives her first computer and logs on to the Internet with a free AOL CD. Mysteriously, the teens find themselves on a website called Facebook, which has all sorts of information about their lives. 15 years in the future. This intriguing premise is an instant hook for today's social-media-savvy readers. Clever references to cassette tapes, dial-up Internet access, and camera film are sure to induce chuckles from those who remember 1996, but the nostalgia is subtle enough that the writing will feel fresh to contemporary teens, and the idea of glimpsing one's future is a tantalizing draw for any reader. Although the discovery of Facebook initially propels the plot, there is a solid and appealing story beyond the sly humor that comes from poking fun at trivial status updates. In addition to sustaining well-crafted romantic tension, the authors deftly address universal questions relevant to teens, such as, "What do I want?" and "How do my actions affect my future?" As Josh and Emma confront these dilemmas and reevaluate their feelings, their alternating first-person narratives have a sense of urgency that makes this book impossible to set aside. This quick, highly engaging read is a tremendously likable, soul-searching romantic comedy and a subtle reminder to occasionally unplug and live in the moment.-Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

IN the darkest days of high school - when I agonized over girls, when I couldn't decide what to do about college, when I couldn't find a way to make my bushy hair not look stupid - I often wished that time travel would be invented. Perhaps one day my adult self might zip back through the decades for a quick visit to Whitefish Bay High. Future Dan could tell me how to handle my angry girlfriend and which college I would eventually decide on, and that I should enjoy my full head of hair while I still could. What I really wanted was for someone to tell me, in essence : "It's O.K., Teenage Dan. You're gonna turn out fine." The two teenagers at the center of "The Future of Us," a slight but winning young adult novel by Jay Asher ("Thirteen Reasons Why") and Carolyn Madder ("The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things"), do get to peek into their own futures, thanks to a wormhole located in an unlikely place - on the AOL CD-ROM one of them installs on her new desktop computer. "The Future of Us" is set in 1996, as the Internet is just becoming a part of daily life. But when Emma Nelson, a high school junior, goes online for the first time, she discovers she can view her own Facebook profile, circa social-media-saturated 2011. Naturally, she's flummoxed: "I have no idea what any of this means, 'Status' and 'Friend Request' and 'Poke.'" Alas, Emma, many of us still don't have a clue. Neither Emma nor her next-door neighbor, Josh Templeton, can quite believe the degree to which Facebook users of 2011 make their lives public: "Why would anyone say this stuff about themselves on the Internet? It's crazy!" Nevertheless, they eagerly explore, in chapters that alternate between the two characters' perspectives, the destinies their online profiles reveal. The message Future Josh delivers to his teenage self is a welcome one: In 2011 he somehow ends up married to the hottest girl in school. Future Emma's tidings are more mixed. From the status updates she posts, Future Emma seems unhappily married and professionally unfulfilled. "Hit my sixth month of unemployment. They say it's the economy, but I'm starting to believe it's me. Thirty-one is too young to have a failed career," reads a typical status update. And equally ominous: "You know why I need comfort food? JJJ hasn't come home for three nights. His trip was only supposed to last one day. I feel hopeless." Postcards from the future like these make confident present-day Emma suddenly nervous, while insecure Josh finds he's more poised with the knowledge that things might just work out O.K. "It's like the discovery of his future is changing him now" Emma thinks. So Teenage Emma sets out to change her future, while Teenage Josh tries to maintain his. Much of the fun of "The Future of Us" comes from watching as modest choices Emma and Josh make in the present day affect their future selves as viewed through their Facebook profiles. Emma need only sign up for an upper-level science course to see Future Emma transformed into a marine biologist. Asher and Mackler keenly dramatize the paralysis that strikes many high school juniors as they realize the long shadows their decisions - which A.P. class to take, what summer romance to cultivate - might cast on the rest of their lives. Though "The Future of Us" has a big idea at its core, it's determinedly small-scale in its concerns. Emma and Josh don't use Facebook to stop a future murder or predict an alien invasion. (Presumably one day they'll have the good sense to get in on Facebook's ground floor.) Instead, they struggle with their own romantic and professional futures in a way that can feel claustrophobic at times. Are teenagers really this blinkered in their interests and ambitions? A NUMBER of technical issues bothered me as well. Why can't Emma and Josh interact with their future selves by leaving comments? What about Facebook's YouTube embeds, or outbound links? Couldn't Emma and Josh theoretically access the whole 2011 Internet? (Windows 95 would go straight to the Blue Screen of Death, I guess.) Shouldn't they have to suffer an unwelcome Facebook redesign like the rest of us? In the end, Emma and Josh learn to live in the present rather than obsessing about the future - a welcome message if an unsurprising one. And the book wisely leaves certain things between these two appealing, smart characters unresolved. The real value of "The Future of Us" may lie less in its plot than in the rich crop of questions it will raise in teenage readers. For one future is certain: Asher's best seller "Thirteen Reasons Why" and Mackler's popular books guarantee there will be many readers for "The Future of Us." Reading the book should get contemporary teenagers wondering: Where will I live 15 years from now? Whom will I marry? What kind of life can I dream of? And what, exactly, is a "CD-ROM"? Prepare yourselves, parents, for the disbelief that will follow explanations of such historic artifacts as dial-up Internet, the Discman and busy signals. Prepare yourself as well for the post-traumatic '90s flashbacks you'll suffer when one character earnestly explains, "As a guitarist, Dave Matthews is so underappreciated." Dan Kois, a cultural critic, is the author of "Facing Future," about the Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.