Scored (review)

Imani has her reasons for rejecting her loyal best pal, going against her parents' morals, and spying on a fellow student: she's in a world where everything is dependent on your score from Score Corp, and all of these things will raise hers. A higher score will get her a scholarship, and that scholarship will allow her to become a passionate, informed marine biologist who can help the polluted waterways. Soon, though, her plan is complicated when she begins falling for the unscored "bad" boy—who shows himself to be informed, well-adjusted, and no more prone to bad choices than Imani herself. Though Imani has always embraced the supposed neutrality of the endless cameras that watch, judge, interpret, and rate her every action, she's starting to question the system. The rapid progression from test reliance to numbers absolutism (it is mentioned that her parents grew up with No Child Left Behind) is effectively explained, and it is a chilling concept that will undoubtedly have teens examining the ways in which their own lives are shaped by scores. Unfortunately, the protagonists are used too often as props, spouting long diatribes against the scoring system, or conveniently deciding to research key points at just the right minute. In addition, Imani's evolution from good (but fairly independent) girl to suck-up spy to rebel with a boyfriend is, at each turn, sudden and often poorly explained, and readers will wonder how much of her final ethical choices were boy-inspired rather than truly coming from her core. Nevertheless, the main argument that any method adults use to rank, sort, and judge teens is flawed will certainly resonate with readers who have seen first-hand the frequency with which they are categorized by some batch of numbers.