Retro by Sofía Lapuente and Jarrod Shusterman

RETRO by Sofía Lapuente and Jarrod Shusterman is a young adult novel that begins with some drama between two long-time friends, the posting of a damning video, and subsequent concerns about mental health and technology use at a Northern California high school. It is a bit difficult to believe that the kids are as mean as they are portrayed to be, but even allowing for that, the clique conflicts ebb and flow in rather stilted ways (e.g., why is a super-popular guy suddenly into a loner girl?). Friendships do develop and it is fun to see a “brat pack” of sorts (think Breakfast Club) trying to support each other in their quest to not use pre-2000 technology for a year. The actions of the tech company, called Limbo, are also rather suspicious and the suspense about who will win the challenge and what will happen next does move the story along. However, the characters are rather unevenly developed. Look instead for Dry, a dystopian novel written by Jarrod Shusterman and his father, Neal, or for the action-packed Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman – that one is older, but still amazing and popular with student readers.