The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I realized last week that I haven't been reading many YA books, so I took a quick trip to Chapters and stocked up on all the books I've been reading about and wanting to read. So, be prepared for some new posts here. The Fault in Our Stars has been getting a lot of buzz, even Oprah put it on her 'best books' list. I have mixed feelings about John Green, I didn't like Abundance of Katherines (didn't even finish it, which is really saying something), but enjoyed Will Grayson, Will Grayson So, when I heard about John Green's newest book, I was a bit skeptical, I wasn't prepared to like it to be honest. Well, there is nothing better than having yourself proven wrong, because I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book! I was hooked right from the start. The main character in this story is Hazel, a 17 year old girl living with terminal cancer. Hazel has known forever that she is going to die, she has made herself accept this and wants nothing more than to spend time with her parents and reading books. Her mother forces her to go to a Cancer Kids support group which Hazel finds incredibly depressing. But she goes because she knows her parents want her to be a normal, happy teenager, which is a pretty tall order when she is living with cancer. One day at the support group, Hazel meets a new boy named Augustus Waters and suddenly her life changes. She finds a small group of friends, and starts to have a bit of a social life. What Hazel discovers through her friendship with Augustus is friendship, love, courage and strength. Hazel and Augustus are teenagers I would love to hang around with. They are witty, smart and incredibly loyal. I loved reading their story. There are books that you read that stick with you for a long time, this is definitely one of them. I have been telling everyone that they have to read this book. It is a bit hard recommending this book because it is about childhood cancer and teenagers. However, I wouldn't hesitate to have this in my grade 7 classroom. I would direct kids to it for sure. There is one scene in the book that deals with mature content, but it was handled in a way that I believe Intermediate students could handle without any issues.

But, I would suggest teachers or adults read it first to make their own decision on that.