SuitabookBetter Than Yesterday
Robyn Schneider
- Reading
- Read alongside a conversation about reputation and pressure. Pause when characters make risky choices, asking what alternatives they have and whether the consequences seem fair.
- Themes
- Achievement and expectation: Skylar is a leading candidate for valedictorian, while Charley is expected by his parents to enter Harvard. The book?s stance on this remains unclear.
- Reputation and relationships: Gossip is prominent at school, and Skylar’s relationship history is described as a reputation that may catch up with her. The story clearly examines reputation and relationships, but it is not clear whether it criticises, normalises or complicates social judgement.
- Friendship under pressure: Charley, Skylar and Marissa risk their perfect transcripts to find Blake after he leaves for New York City. The search tests priorities and is said to change how the characters see one another and themselves, without establishing whether the choice is rewarded or regretted.
- Worth knowing
- Be aware of academic and parental expectations, reputation-focused gossip, relationship complications, an unexplained absence, and characters risking their academic records during the search.