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Author's teen novel is topic of discussion for group

By Natasha Clark

Reminder Assistant Editor



WILBRAHAM Consumerism marketing, locking in the customer, keeping them coming back for more it's a world rarely captured in a book, especially science fiction.

Who would take such a topic and put it into a novel so that teens all over would be enticed to pick it up off of a shelf? Scott Westerfeld that's who.

The premise of Westerfeld's novel So Yesterday asks teens "What if it was your job to say what was cool? What if clothes and electronics companies gave you cash for your opinion, and lots of free stuff on top of it? You wouldn't complain about that, would you?"

Westerfeld's book is part of the Wilbraham Public Library's Young Adult Book Group, and on Aug. 18, students in grades six through nine will meet to discuss the book and talk with a guest from Hot Topic or Pac-Sun, two stores full of what some teens deem "cool."

Reminder Publications had an opportunity to correspond with Westerfeld before he departed on a trip to England last week.

Westerfeld said his experience traveling helped him when creating So Yesterday.

"I've been a New Yorker for almost 20 years, but having married an Australian, I spent 2002 in Sydney. So Yesterday is partly about coming back to the city for the summer of 2003, seeing with fresh eyes the way its pieces fit together, particularly on the levels of fashion and brands and advertising, which cover NY like a second skin," Westerfeld shared. "My wife and I are 'bi-summeral' now, and moving between two hemispheres has made both seem somewhat alien. We're always out of step with the latest fad, movie, or catchphrase, which helps make the mechanisms of change more obvious."

This observation led to creating the character Hunter.

"Hunter, my protag in So Yesterday, is also alienated (in that healthy, questioning-how-things-work way). Having moved to New York City from Minnesota at the start of high school, he found himself in a strange environment, and had to completely relearn the codes of cool.

"The same thing happened to me repeatedly as a kid. My father worked for Univac back when their room-sized computers came with guys in suits; we moved around the country so often that I started at a new school 10 years in a row.

"Like Hunter, I got really good at resetting my social codes," Westerfeld wrote. "Thus, So Yesterday is partly a love letter to New York, composed while discovering the city again after an absence, and partly a memoir of those teenage years, when hacking the social order can be a matter of life and death."

But this writer noted to Westerfeld that consumerism has changed. For instance, female celebrities push makeup products by acting in commercials or appearing in print ads for companies Loreal or Revlon.

NBA star Kobe Bryant pushed Sprite, actress Bridget Moynihan promotes Comcast. But lately, in the more extreme days of consumerism, you have the Jessica Simpsons and 50 Cents who market and sell themselves as a brand. As teens buy their music, clothes, and movies, one could say they are buying, in reality, them.

And while Westerfeld seems to agree to a certain extent, he still thinks teens have the intelligence to separate themselves and show their individuality through what they purchase.

"Teens feel (thankfully) a need to challenge what's getting sold to them. But like my character, Hunter, they also understand the pleasures of marketing and brand awareness. "They have a personal relationship with the things they buy, because in our culture what you buy is one of the ways you define yourself," Westerfeld explained. "But I'm not railing against Madison Avenue as some kind of bogey man, because I'm not that worried about consumerism. Teenagers will always adopt countermeasures to attempts to manipulate them; skepticism and mockery of corporations is simply part of their immune system, and it's fun too. "Teens aren't less selective, they're just less limited than adults. Younger readers will go to a library and come out with a biography, a horror novel, a mainstream novel, and a book about sharks, and it won't even cross their mind that they're 'reading across genres.' Whatever interests them is fair game. I've met adults who only read mysteries, or only books by one author."

When asked what he would say to the teens if he could attend the Aug. 18 book discussion at Wilbraham's library, Westerfeld said he wanted them to enjoy the book.

"Like any book, So Yesterday can be read a lot of different ways. It's about characters who you can feel a personal attachment to, and a story with a beginning, middle and end, but it's also a puzzle, something to decode, asking yourself, what's the author trying to do here," he answered. "So read it any way you want. The real pleasure of reading is figuring out what you want to do with the book, rather than just letting the author (or whoever) take you by the hand."

These are questions Wilbraham Public Library's Assistant Children's Librarian Susan Kent hopes the book group will evoke in the students.

"[The book group] is a natural extension of the library," explained Kent. "It allows kids to talk about books in a setting that is different than a classroom at school ... It's like sitting around the kitchen table talking about the book with your friends."

As overseer of the book group, Kent says she tries to pick a different genre every month.

"Kids get to read something they normally wouldn't get to read themselves," Kent said. So, when a teen referred So Yesterday to her, she gave it a read.

She enjoyed it so much she made it a featured item in the book group.

With so many things competing for teens' attention MTV, music, movies, iPods Westerfeld still feels that reading is a big part of their lives, as well.

"I think that despite all the competition for their time, teens still read more than any other age group," Westerfeld responded. "When you're young, you read more intensely, so a book can really change your way of looking at the world. Once you've discovered that magic, it's hard to give up. It's adults I worry about."

Westerfeld is the author of five novels and also does ghost-writing. And that's not the only writing that goes on in his household. His wife is fellow science fiction writer Justine Larbalestier, who has penned Daughters of Earth and Magic or Madness. Westerfeld admitted that being married to a writer has its benefits.

"I'll run an idea past Justine, and if she's not enthusiastic about it, I'll give it a re-think. We pretty much always like what the other has written, once it's done," he added.

And just as current trends keep moving, so does Westerfeld.

"My book Peeps comes out August 25. I'm very excited about it, because it's a vampire novel. So I'll be joining a long line of vampire stories. Right now I'm working on Specials, the third book in the Uglies trilogy," wrote Westerfeld.

***

The library has been hosting Young Adult Book discussions since the summer of 2001, and it wasn't long after the program got underway that Kent decided to have a guest to coincide with particular books at some meetings.

"I try to host a guest every three months," Kent explained, adding that no other libraries offer that along with their book discussions. She also noted that their turnouts are good and there is not "always the same people every month."

Wilbraham Public Library's Young Adult Book Group meets once a month on the second Thursday at 7 p.m. Anyone interested in the group can call Susan Kent at 596-6141.

For fun information about author Scott Westerfeld or to learn more about his novels, log on to www.scottwesterfeld.com.



Q&A with author of <I>So Yesterday</I>