An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

The morning after noted child prodigy Colin Singleton graduated from high school and got dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, he took a bath.

After begin dumped yet again by a Katherine, Colin's best friend, Hassan, insists on a road trip to cure Colin's broken heart. They land in Gutshot and are convinced to stay by a cast of locals. While there, Colin attempts to prove a theorem of relationships.

The author created interesting characters that I could relate to and the dialogue had a natural rhythm. Footnotes are found throughout the book offering further explanation to the conversation. I was not distracted by this structure.

Green, J. (2006). An abundance of katherines. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
ISBN: 9780142412022
256 pages

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

I had hoped that a new start away from Steepleton would make my junior year seem like a hundred years ago, rather than just one.

Torey Adams's perfect world is shaken when Christopher Creed disappears and his peers express little compassion. Torey is determined to find Christopher joining forces with two class mates that open his eyes to the less than perfect world of Steepleton. Bullying, cliques, self-acceptance, superficiality and judgment are found within the story.

I found the mystery fascinating and the dialogue true to teenagers. I was touched by the portrayal of Christopher Creed - haven't we all known a Christopher Creed? I couldn't put the book down until I finished.

Plum-Ucci, C. (2000). The body of christopher creed. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Inc.
ISBN: 0152023887
248 pages

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

It is my first morning of high school.

Melinda Sordino begins her freshmen year of high school an outcast and she drops clues throughout her story as to why. She struggles through this year coming to terms to what happened, healing and learning to speak for herself again at the close of this story. Themes of violence, self esteem, healing, rape and alienation

This story uses the first person narrative effectively to demonstrate the pain Melinda feels. I can't imagine her pain would have been so real had the story been told from the typical omniscient third party. Excellent story.

Anderson, L.H. (1999). Speak. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux.
ISBN: 0374371520
198 pages