My Summer Read

Being away at camp for most of summer doesn't sound like the way to go for a successful summer reading plan, but I always seem to find myself reading or writing in my spare time at camp. The freedom of being at a sleep away camp meant staying up with my book and a flashlight until I fall asleep. This summer I read 3 books, 2 of which were on the suggested reading list for 8th grade. My favorite book I read this summer was The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. There was a bit of fantasy because the 2 main characters find the Facebook profiles 15 years in the future, but discover that the more they focus on their futures right in front of them, the less they focus on their current lives when they get caught up in how their future will turn out. Though fascinated by the chance at a sneak peak into her future,  Emma finds that her life isn't as good as it is now in her high school junior year. Common "status updates" of her face book page say things like: “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,” and express her sorrow with a failed marriage. Emma's life sounds like how I hope mine never turns out like. I constantly wonder if my future self will be messed up and unhappy. I would rather have a bad time in my high school years, but turn out successful and content, than to have a great time as a teen and end up like Emma's future self.  On the contrary, her best boy friend who also gets a chance to look at his Facebook profile finds a great future ahead of him! Contrary to his current lousy unpopular teenage life, he ends up pursuing his dream job and marrying the hottest girl in his school. Wedding this girl, Sydney Rice, marries hime into great wealth, and he ends up wit a lovely family. Seeing this must have made Emma jealous- I know i would be if I were in her position- and she attempts to change her fate. She sends herself into a spiral of lies, future-changing, and losing her own happiness to achieve it in 15 years. All the while, Emma is trying to help her friends avoid mistakes that affect their future, all at the cost of her own sanity. I was surprised that the normally calm Emma who always knew what to do was getting so caught up in what she should just let be. Eventually, future Emma deletes Facebook, and closes the gates to the future, but as Emma later realizes, for the better. In some cases, I was surprised to find adult content, but nonetheless, the book was on the summer reading list, and was a very nice, casual read this summer.