All Our Worst Ideas

July 1, 2020

Gr 8 Up-Two teens on opposite trajectories meet each other halfway through a common bond: music. Oliver has clerked at Spirits, a record store, long enough for it to feel like home and teach him the value of meaningful work. He's going to open his own record store one day; college is not part of the plan. Enter Amy-preoccupied with scholarship applications and maintaining a 4.0 GPA-who finds a part-time job at Spirits when she's asked to help with family finances. She loves the store as a customer, and decides to just go for it; it's a rare spontaneous move for Amy, and it opens her up emotionally. At work, Oliver and Amy spar over Top 10 lists and engage in a friendly contest to see who can win over whom with a favorite band or track, while shy Oliver surprises himself by singing the Cure classic "Friday I'm in Love" at karaoke night. At school, when Amy stumbles on a calculus test, it's Petra, her competition for valedictorian, who surprises her by offering to tutor her, challenging the mean girl stereotype. "I'm not interested in winning against someone who isn't even trying," she explains. The academic stress on high achievers is thus refreshingly relieved by two teenagers who respect each other. VERDICT A contemporary love story that goes deeper than most, exposing teen angst in its many hiding places with believable characters and situations. Recommended for all collections.-Georgia Christgau, LaGuardia Community Coll., Long Island City, NY

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 Getting a job wasn't part of Amy's senior-year plan to win valedictorian, get into Stanford on a scholarship, and continue dating Jackson. When her stepfather is laid off, however, her mother insists she help out. After taking a part-time job at her favorite record store, Spirits, Amy meets Oliver, a fellow music lover who seemingly hates her. Oliver is caught between his parents, living with his mother and her expectation that he attend college, and picking up his alcoholic father from random bars and public benches whenever he gets the call. Spirits is his home, and working in a record store is all he wants from life?until he falls for Amy. Skinner writes a sweet romance between two lost souls learning to want things for themselves. While Oliver's swift devotion to Amy and the omission of her intended major or future goals beyond admission to Stanford leave the story feeling less than realistic, readers willing to suspend their disbelief will enjoy this window into a pandemic-free 2021.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)