Genre 6 Book Reviews - LS 5603

1. The Fault In Our Stars

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Green, John. 2012. The Fault In Our Stars. New York : Dutton Books. ISBN 9780525555742

B. PLOT SUMMARY

The Fault In Our Stars is a novel about two adolescents who meet in a support group for teenagers with cancer. They fall in love with each other after connecting through their shared condition (Augustus is missing a leg after it was amputated to stop the spread of his cancer while Hazel is suffering thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs.) They get to know each other and realize they both love the same (fictional) book written by a Dutch author. In addition their shared background as cancer patients means that they are both sharply aware of the divide between them and other people that leads to the rest of the population giving them special privileges, which they have mixed feelings about since it will color the rest of their lives whether long or short.

Hazel is very sensitive to the fact that she is her parents' only child and that her death, lurking in the background, may devastate them past the point of recovery. Augustus meanwhile wants to live his life to the fullest and wants everything to be special and memorable. Augustus takes Hazel on a trip to Amsterdam to meet their favorite author and they admit that they are in love with each other. However, the author (Peter van Houten) turns them away at the last minute and sends them home empty handed. Not long after, Augustus dies due to the return of his cancer. Hazel makes amends with van Houten and the novel ends with her quietly marrying Augustus' spirit.

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Fault In Our Stars is intended to be an examination of the way cancer patients are treated in society and how even the preferential treatment they get from strangers and sympathetic people is dehumanizing to them. This is on top of the chemotherapy process which is already arduous and dehumanizing all on its own. Hazel and Augustus discuss this in the form of "cancer perks" which gets them privileges like drinking champagne while still underage or how they are treated with excessive care by the adults around them. The Fault In Our Stars also examines how this undermines and then replaces parts of their identities -- they are cancer kids which means they are dehumanized in many different ways but then they know to integrate "cancer perks" into their every day lives to make their personal turmoil more bearable.

The themes of identity are further touched upon when Augustus and Hazel realize they have some clashing views on how they wish to live the rest of their lives, however long or short that may be. Hazel wants to protect her parents from her death as much as she can by leaving as little an impression as possible (her parents are her best friends and she tries to limit her contact with other people) whereas Augustus wants to live his life more freely and closer to the edge since his leg was amputated and he knows his cancer has come back. Despite this disagreement between them they are still able to respect each other in the face of Death as an equalizer and they are able to love each other in the limited amount of time that they have left. However as the disastrous meetings with van Houten prove, they are still not able to control every single aspect of their lives and they can still hurt and be hurt by other people.

The Fault In Our Stars does its best to avoid the common pitfalls of stories involving adolescent protagonists inflicted with chronic or long term diseases. Fiction often sensationalizes these struggles and thus dehumanizes the person underneath by glamorizing their suffering. To his credit, John Green actively tried to navigate away from these pitfalls by depicting his protagonists crumbling under the weight of what is happening to them: cancer is not inspirational or a crutch to have a romance, it is a disease that numbs and destroys its target.

D. REVIEW EXCERPTS

• Arkansas Teen Book Award Nominees 2012 (And Ongoing)

• Arizona Young Reader's Award Nominations 1998 (And Ongoing)

• Automatically Yours - CATS Awards 2004 (And Ongoing)

• AY CATS - Authors & Illustrators 1997-98 (And Ongoing)

• ALA Best Books For Young Adults 1997 (And Ongoing)

• Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books - 2003 Blue Ribbon Awards (And Ongoing)

• Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books-Recommended Titles 1996 (And Ongoing)

• Booklist Starred Reviews - Ongoing

• Booklist Reviews 2012 January #1

• Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books - May 2012

• Baker & Taylor Book Watch Fall 2012

• Baker & Taylor Book Watch Spring 2012

• Baker & Taylor Book Watch Spring 2013

• California Young Readers Medal Program Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Children's Choice Book Awards 2013 (And Ongoing)

• Capital Choices Book Awards 2013 (And Ongoing)

• Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• BookPage Reviews 2012 January

• Delaware Libraries' Blue Hen Award Nominees 1996 (And Ongoing)

• Georgia Peach Teen Readers Choice Book Award Nominees 2004-05 (And Ongoing)

• Iowa Children's Choice Book Award Nominees 1997-98 (And Ongoing)

• Indies Choice Book Award and Honor Books 2012 (And Ongoing)

• Illinois Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award Nominees 2005 (And Ongoing)

• Illinois Read-For-A-Lifetime High School Reading List 2004-05 (And Ongoing)

• Indiana Rosewater High School Book Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Kirkus Best Books For Teens 2012 (And Ongoing)

• Kentucky Bluegrass Book Award Nominees (All Grades) 2004 (And Ongoing)

• Louisiana Teen Readers Choice Book Award Nominees 2014-15 (And Ongoing)

• Maryland Black Eyed Susan Book Award Nominees High School 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Michigan Great Lakes Children's Book Award Nominees 2004 (And Ongoing)

• Missouri Gateway Readers Book Award Nominees 2004-05 (And Ongoing)

• NY Times Book Review - January 2012 #3-Reviews

• North Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominees 2012-2013 (And Ongoing)

• New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Awards 1998 (And Ongoing)

• Nevada Young Reader Award Nominees Young Adult 2004-05 (And Ongoing)

• New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Books Of 2012 (And Ongoing)

• Booklist, Michael Cart:

At 16, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV–cancer survivor, is clinically depressed. To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. Both kids are preternaturally intelligent, and Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. To find out, the enterprising Augustus makes it possible for them to travel to Amsterdam, where Imperial’s author, an expatriate American, lives. What happens when they meet him must be left to readers to discover. Suffice it to say, it is significant. Writing about kids with cancer is an invitation to sentimentality and pathos—or worse, in unskilled hands, bathos. Happily, Green is able to transcend such pitfalls in his best and most ambitious novel to date. Beautifully conceived and executed, this story artfully examines the largest possible considerations—life, love, and death—with sensitivity, intelligence, honesty, and integrity. In the process, Green shows his readers what it is like to live with cancer, sometimes no more than a breath or a heartbeat away from death. But it is life that Green spiritedly celebrates here, even while acknowledging its pain. In its every aspect, this novel is a triumph.

• Publishers Weekly, Jodi Reamer:
  
  If there's a knock on John Green (and it's more of a light tap considering he's been recognized twice by the Printz committee) it's that he keeps writing the same book: nerdy guy in unrequited love with impossibly gorgeous girl, add road trip. His fourth novel departs from that successful formula to even greater success: this is his best work yet. Narrator Hazel Grace Lancaster, 16, is (miraculously) alive thanks to an experimental drug that is keeping her thyroid cancer in check. In an effort to get her to have a life (she withdrew from school at 13), her parents insist she attend a support group at a local church, which Hazel characterizes in an older-than-her-years voice as a "rotating cast of characters in various states of tumor-driven unwellness." Despite Hazel's reluctant presence, it's at the support group that she meets Augustus Waters, a former basketball player who has lost a leg to cancer. The connection is instant, and a (doomed) romance blossoms. There is a road trip—Augustus, whose greatest fear is not of death but that his life won't amount to anything, uses his "Genie Foundation" wish to take Hazel to Amsterdam to meet the author of her favorite book. Come to think of it, Augustus is pretty damn hot. So maybe there's not a new formula at work so much as a gender swap. But this iteration is smart, witty, profoundly sad, and full of questions worth asking, even those like "Why me?" that have no answer. Ages 14–up.

E. CONNECTIONS

• Other books by John Green:

Looking for Alaska by John Green. ISBN 9780008384128

Paper Towns by John Green. ISBN 9780142414934

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. ISBN 9780142410707

2. The Graveyard Book

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gaiman, Neil. 2008. The Graveyard Book. New York : HarperCollins Pub. ISBN 9780060530921

B. PLOT SUMMARY

The book begins with a family being murdered by a killer known only as 'Jack.' The youngest son is spared due to him having crawled out of his crib to go exploring. He makes his way to the graveyard where the ghost of his mother bargains for him to be taken care of by the supernatural inhabitants there. He is subsequently adopted and named "Nobody."

The rest of the book is a series of short stories that each take place roughly two years apart. Nobody has adventures of his own where he learns magical powers and encounters strange creatures. Throughout the story he is being pursued by the murderer. He grows in power and strength until he finally confronts the man named Jack who murdered his family years prior. Jack reveals that he is part of society of Jacks that include the wide spectrum of fairy tale Jacks. He himself is Jack Frost and he chases Nobody in order to kill him. Nobody finally defeats Jack through clever trickery instead of a one on one fight, using the skills and problem solving skills he learned by being a part of the graveyard's family. His childhood friend Scarlett is deeply troubled by this however, and accuses him of being just as bad as them. Nobody eventually must move on from the graveyard and become a full fledged member of society, unable to see ghosts.

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Graveyard Book is very much a book about separation. Gaiman originally pictured it as riffing off Kipling's The Jungle Book and this remains very much a part of its DNA as a story. The child of mankind is set to learn a new way of life though he is eventually doomed to leave it simply because of the passage of time. (Mowgli becomes entranced with a young woman and follows her back to civilization.) Through no fault of his own Nobody has been separated from the world of the living by the murder of his parents and sibling. This lead him to the graveyard where he learns many powers but will not be able to hold on to many, if any, of them when he finally leaves.

Nobody has been firmly separated from anyone who might relate to him better because of these events. This is demonstrated when Scarlett is deeply disturbed by his defeat of Jack Frost and what it means about him living among the undead that he can do such things so matter of factly.

The Graveyard Book is a simple novel of serialized short stories. The plot is kept moving in the background by the knowledge of the Jacks and that they are following the protagonist around. However it becomes a macabre slice of life story as we see Bod enjoying his "life" with the undead and how reluctant he is to leave them.

D. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• ALA Notable Books 1944-97 (And Ongoing)

• Arizona Young Reader's Award Nominations 1998 (And Ongoing)

• Automatically Yours - CATS Awards 2004 (And Ongoing)

• AY CATS - Authors & Illustrators 1997-98 (And Ongoing)

• Best Books For Young Adult Readers 1997 (And Ongoing)

• ALA Best Books For Young Adults 1997 (And Ongoing)

• Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books-Recommended Titles 1996 (And Ongoing)

• Booklist Editors Choice 2008

• Delaware Libraries' Blue Hen Award Nominees 1996 (And Ongoing)

• Florida Sunshine State Young Reader Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Hawaii Nene Reading List Nominees 2004 (And Ongoing)

• Illinois Read-For-A-Lifetime High School Reading List 2004-05 (And Ongoing)

• Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award Nominees 2004 (And Ongoing)

• Kirkus Reviews 2008 August #2

• Kirkus Starred Reviews - Ongoing

• Kliatt - September 2008

• Kentucky Bluegrass Book Award Nominees (All Grades) 2004 (And Ongoing)

• Kentucky Bluegrass Book Award Winners 2004 (All Grades) (And Ongoing)

• Newbery Medal/Honor Books (Ongoing)

• Notable Children's Books 1997 (And Ongoing)

• North Carolina Battle Of The Books Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• New Jersey Garden State Teen Book Awards 1998 (And Ongoing)

• New Mexico Battle Of The Books Childrens Book Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Newbery Awards-Winners Only (Ongoing)

• Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Nominees 2005 (And Ongoing)

• Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Book Award Nominees Grade 6-8 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Book Award Nominees 2005 (And Ongoing)

• BookList, Holly Koelling
  
  While a highly motivated killer murders his family, a baby, ignorant of the horrific goings-on but bent on independence, pulls himself out of his crib and toddles out of the house and into the night. This is most unfortunate for the killer, since the baby was his prime target. Finding his way through the barred fence of an ancient graveyard, the baby is discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Owens, a stable and caring couple with no children of their own—and who just happen to be dead. After much debate with the graveyard’s rather opinionated denizens, it is decided that the Owenses will take in the child. Under their care and the sponsorship of the mysterious Silas, the baby is named “Nobody” and raised among the dead to protect him from the killer, who relentlessly pursues him. This is an utterly captivating tale that is cleverly told through an entertaining cast of ghostly characters. There is plenty of darkness, but the novel’s ultimate message is strong and life affirming. Although marketed to the younger YA set, this is a rich story with broad appeal and is highly recommended for teens of all ages.
  
  

• Kirkus Reviews
  
  Wistful, witty, wise—and creepy. Gaiman's riff on Kipling's Mowgli stories never falters, from the truly spine-tingling opening, in which a toddler accidentally escapes his family's murderer, to the melancholy, life-affirming ending. Bod (short for Nobody) finds solace and safety with the inhabitants of the local graveyard, who grant him some of the privileges and powers of the dead—he can Fade and Dreamwalk, for instance, but still needs to eat and breathe. Episodic chapters tell miniature gems of stories (one has been nominated for a Locus Award) tracing Bod's growth from a spoiled boy who runs away with the ghouls to a young man for whom the metaphor of setting out into the world becomes achingly real. Childhood fears take solid shape in the nursery-rhyme–inspired villains, while heroism is its own, often bitter, reward. Closer in tone to American Gods than to Coraline, but permeated with Bod's innocence, this needs to be read by anyone who is or has ever been a child.

E. CONNECTIONS

• Other books by Neil Gaiman:

Coraline by Neil Gaiman. ISBN 9780747558781

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. ISBN 9781506718743

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. ISBN 9780062567956

• Princess Mononoke (film) - English script written by Neil Gaiman
  
  

3. New Kid

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Craft, Jerry. 2019. New Kid. By Jim Callahan. New York, NY : Harper. ISBN 9780062691200

B. PLOT SUMMARY

New Kid tells the story of Jordan Banks, a 12-year old African American boy who enrolls at a private school that is predominantly white. This results in friction between Jordan and the other students as he and they struggle with understanding each other. The RAD students do not know how to act around Jordan and he is intimidated by their pre-existing relationships with one another.

However, Jordan is slowly able to make friends with some of the students. As they get to know one another they understand each other more, and the friction lessens. However things still go up and down -- Jordan joins the soccer team but does not understand the game; he is friends with only one other African American boy at the school; and his neighborhood friends start making fun of him by calling 'Private School' after he corrects someone's grammar. Despite this Jordan is able to keep cementing his friendships with other students and comes to understand them better as human beings and vice versa. This finally culminates with Jordan standing up for his friend Drew after Drew is accused of hitting someone. This puts a stop to a suspension that was headed Drew's way. With this, Jordan proves he is successfully a part of RAD.

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

New Kid is a study of microaggressions and how they degrade and tatter the fabric of our everyday lives. It shows how even well meaning people can struggle to treat others with respect and not make erroneous assumptions about others based off of their skin color, economic situation, or what neighborhood they live in. Microaggressions are notable because of the strain they put on relationships and how they degrade the person on the receiving end as well as the individual responsible for inflicting them.

However New Kid also demonstrates the antidote to these microaggressions which is to keep trying to connect to the human being underneath. Both Jordan and the RAD students make mistakes in approaching one another but they are good natured and wanted to be friends. Sports provides an avenue for them to all get to know one another though in the case of Drew it also does the opposite. However, when Drew is initially blamed for Andy's slip and fall in the cafeteria, Jordan proves that he has made a place for himself at RAD when he stands up for his friend and is able to demonstrate why Drew could not have done such a thing. By the end of the graphic novel, Jordan has successfully become a stronger person who has formed new, secure friendships with people at his school.

D. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• ALA Notable Books 1944-97 (And Ongoing)

• Automatically Yours - CATS Awards 2004 (And Ongoing)

• Booklist Starred Reviews - Ongoing

• Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books - January 2019

• Coretta Scott King Book Awards and Honors (Ongoing)

• Florida Sunshine State Young Reader Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Fast Facts - February 2019 #2

• YALSA Great Graphic Novels For Teens 2007 (And Ongoing)

• Horn Book Guide Reviews 2019 Fall

• Horn Book Magazine Reviews 2019 #1

• Iowa Children's Choice Book Award Nominees 1997-98 (And Ongoing)

• Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award Nominees 2004 (And Ongoing)

• Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award Nominees 2005-06 (And Ongoing)

• Kirkus Diversity Children's & Teen Collection - Black

• Kirkus Prize 2019 (And Ongoing)

• Kirkus Starred Reviews - Ongoing

• LEDA

• LEDZ

• Massachusetts Children's Book Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Missouri Mark Twain Book Award Nominees 2004-05 (And Ongoing)

• North Carolina Junior Book Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Nebraska Golden Sower Award Nominees Young Adult 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• New Jersey Garden State Children's Book Awards 1997-98 (And Ongoing)

• Newbery Awards-Winners Only (Ongoing)

• New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Books Of 2012 (And Ongoing)

• Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Nominees 2005 (And Ongoing)

• Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Book Award Nominees Grade 6-8 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews - Ongoing

• People Reviews 2019 December #3

• NY Times Book Review - March 2019 #3-Reviews

• School Library Journal Best Books Of The Year (Ongoing)

• Texas Maverick Graphic Novels 2013 (And Ongoing)

• Tennessee Volunteer State Book Awards 1998-99 (And Ongoing)

• Texas Bluebonnet Book Award Nominees 2004-05 (And Ongoing)

• PW Reviews 2018 November #4

• Virginia State Reading Association for Young Readers Program Nominees Middle 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Book Award Nominees 2003-04 (And Ongoing)

• Growing Minds-September 2020

• Growing Minds-February 2019

E. CONNECTIONS

• Other books by Jerry Craft:

Class Act by Jerry Craft. ISBN 9780062885517

The Offenders: Saving the World While Serving Detention! by Jerry Craft; Jaylen Craft; Aren Craft. IBSN 9780979613272

• Historical novels:

In A Class of Her Own by Kathleen Gould Lundy; Jeff Alward. ISBN 9781419032127