MAC SLATER HUNTS THE COOL

An Aussie teen turns global coolhunter in a slick, fast-paced story that bookends nicely with Scott Westerfeld’s So Yesterday (2004). No one is more surprised than Mac Slater when the nerdy underdog child of impoverished hippie parents is tapped by corporate trend-spotters to compete for one of their adolescent Internet correspondent spots. His adversary is none other than sinister fashionista Cat DeVrees, whom Mac has a crush on despite the fact that she backstabs him at every turn. Her weapon is couture while his is invention, and soon it seems that Cat’s hemlines are going to win out over Mac’s attempts at creating a flying bicycle. But the end is never really in doubt, though what happens next will be covered in an upcoming sequel. Tackling the topic of cool for capricious and increasingly media-savvy teens is inherently risky. While Bancks’s diverting portrayal of trend-spotting rings true, its shelf life may be limited due to the subject’s inconstant nature. A timely tome for today but not necessarily tomorrow. (Fiction. 10-13)