The Fault in our Stars

     In a single word - AMAZING!  The Fault in our Stars by John Green is one of my favorite books of all time.  It is laugh-out-loud funny and sobbingly tragic within sentences of one another.
     The characters are some of the most believable I have ever read.  Hazel, Augustus, and Issac feel like friends I formed iron bonds through tragic circumstances, although the other characters were not as developed.  
     The dialogue was brilliant.  It held the beauty of Shakespeare, the simplicity of poetry, and the depth you only get from surviving a trip through Hell.
     The description of Spring in Amsterdam made me homesick for a place I have never been.
     The title refers to a line from Julius Caesar.  Cassius tells Brutus, "The Fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves..."  It is the perfect title for a story of three teenagers facing terminal cancer.
     Hazel starts her story on the day she meets Augustus at the cancer support group.  She has terminal thyroid cancer that makes her unable to breathe on her own.  Suffering from depression, her mom insists she go to therapy.  One of those dreaded events she does each week, until the day Augustus appears in the group.  Hazel does not want to fall in love and devastate any more people than she has to with her death, but she can't stop falling in love with a boy who metaphorically holds the object of death in his mouth but doesn't smoke it.
     Augustus has been in remission from Osteosarcoma since his leg was amputated.  He knows the risks he faces falling in love with Hazel; his last girlfriend Caroline died from cancer.  In fact, he can't stop staring at Hazel when they first meet because she looks so much like Hazel.  He knows that losing the person you love is a grenade going off inside, but he knows love means something in this world that loss and death cannot diminish.
     Isaac loses his eyesight from his own cancer, but through his loss he sees life and love more clearly than before.  Although Isaac's girlfriend Monica swears to love him forever, she breaks up with him the night before the surgery to remove his eyes.
     He rages to Hazel, "Always was a promise!  How can you just break the promise?"
     Hazel replies, "Sometimes people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them."
     "Right, of course.  But you keep the promise anyway.  That's what love is.  Love is keeping the promise anyway."
     Through his loss, he gives my favorite line of the book.  This is my new definition of love.
     It has been a long time since I read a book by choice and found myself underlining lines and passages that were so powerful I knew I would want to come back to reread them later.
     Although this book has teenagers as the main characters, the language and sexual scene make it inappropriate for some teenagers.  However, it did fit into the book and the characters' situations; it was not done gratuitously.             

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Peanuts

     I love this title!  It pretty much sums up my life, and the fact that it was a birthday gift from my brother makes it even more perfect.  This book of wisdom pairs up a lesson on the left with an example cartoon from Peanuts on the right. 
     One lesson is "How to Eat Ice Cream" and shows Snoopy and Woodstock eating ice cream together on top of Snoopy's dog house.  Snoopy says, "I always have the vanilla on the bottom and the chocolate on the top."  When Woodstock answers, Snoopy replies, "You like to have the vanilla on top and the chocolate on the bottom?  That's interesting.  It takes all kinds to make a world."  What a wonderful world it would be if we could all see that we like different kinds of ice cream, but it takes all kinds to make a world. 

Mockingbird

      I absolutely LOVED Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine.  After
Caitlin's mother died from cancer, her older brother Devon helped her deal with life, growing up, and acting normal.  Now that Devon is dead, Caitlin has no one to help her navigate the world the rest of us take for granted.  Caitlin searches for the closure she and her father so  desperately need and learns about life in all its messy glory.
     Caitlin helped me see the world in a totally different way.  Thanks to her, I understand what it is like to grow up with Aspberger's Syndrome.  Through Caitlyn's eyes, I have a new understanding of empathy, finesse, and things I take for granted - like making friends.  This book made me laugh out loud one minute and sob the next.  I LOVED this little girl.
     Kathryn Erskine breaks all the rules of writing in this book, so it takes a while to figure out what is real.  Once I caught on to her style, I enjoyed the way it mirrored Caitlin's world.  It is beautifully written and captures the character perfectly.  It is a short book, but because of the author's play with style and theme, I recommend this book to advanced readers.

Feathers

     Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson is an amazing book.  It is one of those books that teaches you about life, but doesn't knock you over the head with the lessons. 

     Frannie is in sixth grade when a new boy moves in.  Frannie knows what it is like to be the new kid, but it is even worse when you are the only white student in the school and happen to look like Jesus.  The other students immediately pick on him and start calling him Jesus Boy.  Frannie is fascinated and repelled by Jesus Boy.  When he signs to her, she thinks he is trying to embarrass her in front of the other kids.  They don't know Frannie has a brother who is deaf or that her mother has lost two babies and is pregnant again.  Since death has been a part of her family's life since before she was born, Frannie worries incessantly about her brother and her mother.  She searches for meaning in everything and everyone around her.  After reading an Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope" in school, she begins looking for ways hope is like feathers.

     The novel taught me about the importance of hope, to stop worrying about what life might bring and enjoy the moment I have, the pain of judgement and prejudice, and what it means to be a "good" person.  The author did a great job of incorporating the lessons into the story for Frannie to learn.  

     Feathers won a Newberry Honor.  It is a quick read at 118 pages, so it's perfect for a summer afternoon in a hammock or at the beach.  It is a lower reading level so kids can read it, but I don't think they would appreciate the subtleties of the characters or situations.  However, it is a great book for mature readers, adults, or as a classroom novel with the teacher explaining the themes and symbolism in the book. 

The Maze in the Heart of the Castle

     My friend Catherine gave me the book The Maze in the Heart of the Castle by Dorthy Gilman.  It ended up in my pile of books and finally resurfaced this week.  I am so glad it did.  This small book has become one of my all-time favorites.
   This book can be read on two levels - the story of a boy on a quest for a far-off land - or as an allegory, much like The Little Prince. 
     Colin is sixteen when he loses both his parents and finds himself alone in the world.  Battling his grief, he begs Brother John to explain the age old question we all eventually ask - why?
     Brother John sends him to a castle with a magical maze.  By facing the maze, Colin will find his answer.  Through Colin's adventures, he learns lessons about the human condition.

• Sometimes the endless maze is self-imposed and we may need to climb over the obstacles to find our way out.   
• Truth cannot be silenced. 
• Sometimes we must fight for what is right.
• Our mind can take us to dark places that incubate us, but we can not stay there without going mad. 
• Love is worth having, even if the person we love betrays us. 
• Magic and miracles come to us in our darkest moments.
• We become what our thougts allow us to be.   

     A beautiful book that is easy to read.  Like Colin, I am a better person for taking the journey.