Why I love Scott Westerfeld

One of the coolest books I've read in a while is by one of my fave authors- Texan Scott Westerfeld. He so rocks. His book So Yesterday is about how things become popular. Well, actually, it's about a girl who goes missing and what happened to her in the world of Trendsetting New York. I was enthralled. Westerfeld works in so much into his novels- history, science... To think this book was copyrighted 2004 but was so technologically spot-on. Are we that behind in Texas? Or is it just me? The things I think of particularly here the celphone capabilities and power of blogging. I've absolutely got to quote my favorite part. It's the English teacher in me. The main character, Hunter, is being sought to join a group of trendsetting kids who are frustrated with the lack of capitalization in our society. I love this idea! Read on:
“One more word about cranks: An Innovator friend of Lexa’s had this theory that uppercase was coming back in. That all the Webby kids who’d never hit the shift key in their lives (except to type an @ sign) were about to start putting capitals at the beginning of their sentences, maybe even the first letter of their names and other proper nouns. Lexa didn’t really believe this seismic shift was imminent, but she desperately wanted it to be. Typographical laziness was slowly destroying our culture, according to Lexa and her pals. Inexactitude was death.
“I wasn’t clear on the details of her theory. But the concept behind SHIFT was that if enough Trendsetters started using capital letters in their e-mails and posts, maybe the herd would follow.
“’You haven’t joined up, have you?’
“I cleared my throat. ‘I’m sort of agnostic on the whole SHIFT agenda.’
“‘Agnostic? You mean you aren’t sure if capital letters exist?’ Lexa could be literal minded at times.
“’No, I believe in them. I’ve actually seen a few. But as far as the need for a movement goes—‘”...
p. 50-51
He cracks me up. So true, so true my friend. And does Hunter get the girl in the end? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, to tell or not to tell? The power I wield. It does go to my head. I think I'll make you read the book to find out. We need the circulation stats.