Jay Asher Two-fer

TITLES: Th1rteen R3asons Why and The Future of Us

AUTHOR: Jay Asher / Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

REVIEWED BY: JPL TeenLink

BRIEF SUMMARY: Th1rteen R3asons Why: Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker -- his classmate and crush -- who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself -- a truth he never wanted to face.


The Future of Us: 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.

WHY I PICKED IT UP: I grabbed these for the Kindle one day when I wanted something new to read. They both sounded interesting. I read Th1rteen R3asons Why first -- I was so impressed by Jay Asher's writing that as soon as I finished it, I absolutely had to read The Future of Us.

WHY I FINISHED IT: The writing, the story, the characters -- all of them are astounding. I was hooked from the first page of Th1rteen R3asons Why, and I simply had to keep reading.

WHO I'D GIVE IT TO: People who like true-to-life stories. There is a lot going on here, and not all of it is pretty, but it all rings true.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: These books are strongly, STRONGLY recommended only for mature teens. The subject matter, and the way it is handled, is definitely hard PG-13 area, sometimes venturing over into R-rated territory (moreso in Th1rteen R3asons Why than in The Future of Us). The occasional swear word appears, and sexual matters are discussed, sometimes bluntly.

See you at the library!