Top Ten Clues You’re Clueless

It’s Christmas Eve, and high schooler Chloe has to work all day at the local supermarket, along with a quirky assortment of cashiers, stockers, and baggers—especially handsome Tyson, who she has a big crush on. Then the store manager discovers that someone has stolen nearly $10,000 from the Christmas charity box, and decides to hold all of the employees in the break room until the police arrive or someone confesses. These unusual circumstances lend themselves to weird conversations, supermarket games, romantic encounters, a diabetes scare for Chloe, and speculation on who is behind the theft. Czukas (Ask Again Later) gives Chloe the oft-seen penchant for making lists; many are funny—“Newborn giraffes” tops the list of “Things That Are Less Awkward Than Getting Caught Riding Through the Store in a Shopping Cart in Front of Your (Angry) Boss”—though their frequency occasionally frustrates the book’s momentum. This aside, Chloe’s narration is upbeat and entertaining, Czukas’s characters are memorably eccentric, and the mystery about who stole the money pushes readers along in this sweet comedy. Ages 13–up. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency. (Dec.)