Top Ten Clues You’re Clueless by Liz Czukas (review)

It’s Christmas Eve, which means that the high-end grocery store where Chloe works will be packed. Fortunately, she’s working with Tyson, her crush, as well as four other teens whom she would like to get to know better, given that she has only recently moved to town. An inveterate list-maker, she has set goals to learn something new about at least three of them and to give Tyson a ride home in hopes of sparking a relationship. When it is discovered that someone has looted the donations box, suspicion falls on the six of them, and they are asked to stay after work until the police arrive. From there, the plot belongs entirely to John Hughes, with each of these disparate characters—Gabe, the obnoxious rich boy; Sammi, the hardened foster kid; Zaina, the strikingly beautiful Muslim; Micah, the morally upright home-schooler; Tyson, the black kid aspiring to college; and Chloe, the slightly geeky diabetic—revealing their secrets and learning to trust one another. While each character assuredly represents a type, Czukas gives them enough flesh to make them interesting and likable incarnations, and Chloe’s bright narrative voice and funny lists keep the Breakfast Club scenario from outlasting its freshness date. At heart a celebration of teens at work and just a celebration of teens in general, this offers a peppy alternative to high-concept realism, perfect for fans of Joan Bauer and E. Lockhart’s lighter fare.