An Abundance of Katherines

Green, John. An Abundance of Katherines. New York, NY: Dutton, 2006. 

Intended Audience: Ages 13 and older

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Personal Reaction: I read An Abundance of Katherines shortly after reading The Fault in Our Stars and while I loved the story, it did not elicit the emotional turmoil of the Hazel Grace and Augustus.  Colin, a child prodigy, has his heart broken by the nineteenth girl named Katherine, not Catherine, not Katharine, but Katherine.  While he hadn't intentionally dated nineteen girls of the same name, somehow he did and after having his heart broken so many times his best friend Hassan decides to take him on a road trip to get over his breakup. 

On their trip Colin attempts to create an equation to predict relationships and their chance of success.  Both he and Hassan find themselves in the middle of Gunshot, Tennessee and get jobs working to document the lives of residents.  They make friends with Lindsay, Katrina and the other Colin (TOC) and reinvent themselves along the way.  

Author Facts: John Green has a brother named Hank he began communicating with with via videoblogs on YouTube in 2007.  This started a group of nerdfighters who seek to fight for intellectualism and decrease worldwide suck, as well as raising money to help fight poverty.  In school Green was often nerdy and wished to be popular, though never managed to succeed at.  Instead he read a lot, spend a lot of time alone and listened to people's conversations.  

Author Website: http://johngreenbooks.com/

A Wizard of Earthsea

Guin, U. (1968). A Wizard of Earthsea. New York, New York: Bantam Press.

Genre: Fantasy

Intended Audience: Ages 12 and older

Personal reaction to the book: I chose this book because it was a favorite of a friend when he was growing up.  After reading it I find it easy to understand why it made such an impact and why he reads primarily fantasy books.

This book followed the choices of a young wizard, Ged.  It described and acknowledged the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions and not being afraid to clean up one's mess.  Ged released an evil force on the world while showing his pride and being pompous.  He puts the lives of his friends and teachers in danger until he later masters the shadow he created.  Earthsea was a very easy novel to follow and the lessons were easy to see.

Author Facts:Ursula Le Guin learned to write at five and never stopped since.  She received many awards for her books. In addition to writing many novels, Le Guin takes time to review novels of others and can be found on her website.

Author's website: http://www.ursulakleguin.com/