We All Looked Up

Gr 10 Up—It's spring of senior year, and four students are questioning whether they're headed for the futures they want. For Peter (the popular jock), Anita (most likely to succeed), Andy, (the slacker stoner), and Eliza (the photographer with a reputation), the pressures of school, friends, and family feel massive—until the announcement that an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. Suddenly the future isn't so important. Wallach has created an accessible cast of realistic teens struggling with identity, family, and loyalty. Substantial language, casual sex, drugs, and occasional violence occur throughout, but it almost always feels authentic to these teens and the world they're living in; even their worst mistakes feel relatable and worthy of empathy given the world-ending circumstances. Many adult characters feel one-dimensional, but the sense of the teens' urgency to live is palpable. In following his four protagonists as their lives converge, Wallach has written a coming-of-age novel with a captivating existential twist: What is truly important at the end of the world?