Everything You Want [Hardcover]

Barbara Shoup (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2008

With high school mercifully drawing to a close, Emma's only question is, "What next? And can it please be completely unlike what happened before?" Then one lucky little lotto ticket seems to give the answer-or does it?

Everything You Want is a story about what happens to an average family when money is suddenly no object. Although Emma is bright and creative and has a supportive family, she isn't exactly excited about life after high school. She's got her share of unresolved issues, including a disastrous ending to her crush of a lifetime, which left her with a broken heart and a bloody nose (how do you move on when the only boy you've ever wanted to date punches you in the face?). Then Emma's family wins fifty million dollars in the lottery, but instead of making everything better, it just makes everything more complicated.

Everything You Want is the story of a young woman trying to figure out what she needs when, suddenly, she can have anything she wants.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

After Emma, a floundering college freshman, wins 50 million dollars in the lottery, she discovers that despite her newfound ability to buy anything she wants, she still doesn’t have, or even know, what she needs. As her whole family tries to adjust to their radically different lifestyle, Emma struggles to balance her strong family ties with her need for independence. What could have been a predictably moralistic tale becomes, thanks to Shoup’s rich characterizations and Emma’s dry wit, a surprisingly moving portrait of a young woman’s efforts to find and accept herself. More comic relief comes with the colorful yet realistic characters, such as the Harley-riding grandfather and the sweetly clueless roommate. Intriguing cover art (a white goose eyes the reader quizzically) picks up on the origin of the winning lottery numbers: Emma’s psychology-experiment goose, named Freud. From the cover to the intricately entwined relationships that drive the story, Shoup delivers clever details that call to mind Joan Bauer’s humor and humanism. Grades 9-12. --Debbie Carton

Review

4Q 4P rating in VOYA. Senior High. "This entertaining coming-of-age journey is also a thought-provoking look at what money can and cannot do." -- Lucy Schall "VOYA"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Flux (April 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738712272
• ISBN-13: 978-0738712277
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,160,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, May 7, 2008

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everything You Want (Hardcover)

Emma, a college freshman, has grown up comparing herself to a more beautiful and accomplished older sister. With her life plagued by embarrassing situations and constantly feeling odd, Emma thinks she will never fit into the world around her. Little does she know; most of her family and friends feel exactly the same way about their own lives.

Emma's tale starts as she attempts to save an annoying goose whose life is scheduled to end because she has finished her psychology experiment. Heartsick at the thought of Freud's cremation, she packs him up in a borrowed cage and takes him home for the weekend. Her parents are not pleased, but they accept it as a typical example of Emma's normal, yet
peculiar, behavior.

It turns out that the goose changes their lives when Emma's father uses "golden" as inspiration in the purchase of a lottery ticket and ends up winning an astonishing $50 million dollars. That's when Emma's story truly begins. Does having money improve life or simply make a mess of it?

EVERYTHING YOU WANT details Emma's experiences as she struggles to find her place in the world. Having money doesn't mean that everything falls easily into place. Instead it tends to muddy the waters and make choices less clear and focused.

At times I found Emma an annoying complainer, but as she gradually comes to terms with her situation and begins to recognize that her personal problems are no different or special than anyone else's, I found her more likeable and relatable as a character.

Barbara Shoup takes readers into a world we all dream about, only to reveal that things may not be - everything we want.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 1/2 stars, actually., January 25, 2009

By 

Valerie (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everything You Want (Hardcover)

When I read the summary, I thought this book sounded really, really good and right away put it on hold at the library. The book was good, but it had potential to be great. I also wish Freud had a bigger role.

Though Emma was annoying, I found myself relating to her. She over thinks and questions everything. I loved the relationship she had with her sister and her Grandpa.

I actually liked all the characters in this book. Especially the grandpa. I really do believe he brought something to the book that none of the other characters did.

One complaint I have has to do with the "relationship" between Emma and Gabe. It was just a little weird to me, to be honest.