Harry Potter and the Terrors of the Toilet -- article Children's Literature in Education

I’ll admit it, I read this article for the title, “Harry Potter and the Terrors of the Toilet” by Alice Mills from the March 2006 issues of Children’s Literature in Education (Vol 37 No. 1).

Mills says that the toilet is a place for heroic action and a way to travel between worlds. It is also a place where boys are bullied and girls go to cry in the series. (Also, this article was written before the series was complete and it’s been awhile since I’ve read the later books in the series.)

Mills says that toilets and bathrooms are typically censored or downplayed in books, except for potty training books and what she calls “scatological books”. She mentions specifically Fungus the Bogeyman as a scatological book. She does not mention the Captain Underpants books which were the first books that came to mind for me when I thought about poop joke books. Mills writes that when talking about toilets in literature the only fluids that come out are tears, never poop or pee. I scribbled in the margin that is because bathroom talk doesn’t come out in polite conversation very often, why would it come about in literature.

The article talks about the bathroom being a typical place for bullying and crying in children’s literature. Offering examples of boys getting their heads dunked in the toilet and Moaning Myrtle and Hermione crying in the bathroom. Another typical thing to happen in the bathroom that I noticed wasn’t discussed is the bathroom as a confessional location. I’ve seen my fair share of teen television and teen movies. Two that specifically come to mind where the bathroom is the place to make confessions include Secret Life of the American Teenager and My So-Called Life. The bathroom is a place to speak to someone in private sometimes with not so private consequences (There’s always someone behind the stall door who wasn’t meant to hear the confession.)

Mills does a Fruedian and a Kristevan analysis of key plot points in the book. In Freud’s anal stage of psychosexual development the child learns to say no and has a power over its own body. Kristeva’s description of the anal stage talks about the disgust with the process of using the bathroom (and mom). During this stage the child is establishing a boundary between mom and child. The fluidity of that boundary between mom and child is a threat to one’s independent identity.

Mills talks about the bathroom as Moaning Myrtle’s home. She says that Moaning Myrtle doesn’t like Hermione (which is true) but then she says that Moaning Myrtle is threatening and sexual towards Harry because she’s fond if him. Mills writes that, “The chamber of secrets, in this reading, is simultaneously the toilet, the murderer’s lair and the female body.” I consider Moaning Myrtle a friendly pest, rather than creepy and sexually inappropriate. She even writes of Myrtle that, “like the basilisk, can be construed as a mobile, murderous piece of shit.”

She writes about Harry’s idealization of his parents. She said that Harry has to modify his believe in his dad as an ideal. He in some ways resembles the book’s villains.  Harry’s dad was a bully who got the girl. Harry’s dad was not someone that Harry and Hermione chose to name a baby after. They did choose to name a baby after the kid that Harry’s dad bullied. (Although, this article came out before the last book.) Throughout the series Harry does not get this kind of up close look at his mom. He hears that his mom died to save him and her love left a mark. That physical mark threatens Harry’s right to his own identity.

Like I said, I read this article because of the title. As I was reading I found myself saying, “bah” she’s reading too much into this with the Kristevan descriptions of disgust with things that come from the body and the maternal. It’s been awhile since I’ve read psychoanalytical discussion of anything and it’s been awhile since I’ve re-read the Harry Potter series, so perhaps given that, this article wasn’t for me. Although now I’m curious about other discussion of Moaning Myrtle as a character.

two titles by Steve Sheinkin

I read Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin as part of a training for librarians who enjoy young adult books and reading award winners. This book won the Robert F. Sibert Award in 2012 for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young People. Bomb is the story of the building of the atomic bomb and the people who worked on the Manhattan project.  It is thorough but not longwinded (it’s only a 7 hour read), it is science-y but understandable with true stories about the people involved in the project that sound unbelievable.

It reads like a spy story and talks about ways the Soviets tried to steal information about the American’s building efforts and the Americans prevented the Germans from developing what they needed to build the bomb, including a story about trip to Norway to blow up a factory in the mountains. It was a good read with great footnotes and you know the author did his research. As I was reading, I jotted down, this observation by one of the scientists (I think regarding the finishing of the project, after the test but before the big drop) “Naturally, we were very jubilant over the outcome of the experiment," Rabi later said of the mood among the scientists that morning. "We turned to one another and offered congratulaions -- for the first few minutes. Then, there was a chill, which was not the morning cold." It was the chill of knowing, they had used something they loved -- the study of physics -- to build the deadliest weapon in human history.
Oppenheimer was feeling the chill too.” (184)

In an interview with School Library Journal the author, Steve Sheinkin, discusses how he wrote the book in the style of the thrillers he likes to read, by thinking about scenes then turning those scenes into a full story. It’s a great interview, you should read it if you get a chance:

http://www.slj.com/2012/09/curriculum-connections/cc_september2012_interview/

Since I enjoyed Bomb so much, I picked up Sheinkin’s first book, The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, and Treachery. The Notorious Benedict Arnold won the 2011 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Nonfiction. I’m not sure I would have picked up this book otherwise, except for the author. I can’t say I’ve ever been particularly interested in reading about Benedict Arnold.

Everyone who’s ever been to elementary school knows that Benedict Arnold is synonymous with traitor, but most don’t know much about why that is, or that first he was a war hero. It seems that some of Benedict Arnold’s problems stem from the fact that he was sometimes reckless (an occasional duel-er) who took slights personally, and was not good at playing politics. Add to that Benedict Arnold had some debt and the British were willing to pay.

There were certainly times that some generals downplayed his accomplishments on the battlefields to make themselves look better. But other generals, spoke highly of him including George Washington and General Schuyler. Sheinkin writes, “While Arnold held on in Canada, news of his march to Quebec, and the desperate battle for the city, started reaching people in the American Colonies. General Schuyler captured the reaction of amazed Americans everywhere, saying, "Colonel Arnold's march does him great honor; some future historians will make it the subject of admiration to his readers. " 102

I liked that this book included interesting tidbits about the Revolutionary War like that the Colonies soldiers were frequently wearing British uniforms with notes pinned to their hats that said “Liberty or Death” to identify them as not British, or that when preparing for the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain soldiers were told to spread sand on the decks of the boats so they wouldn’t slip on spilled blood (What a great morale booster when going into battle!!)

For nearly $6000, plus a little for expenses (almost a million dollars in today’s money), Benedict Arnold tried to give the British information that if the plot hadn’t failed would have caused loss of a fort, supplies and many prisoners of war including George Washington.

The book ends by saying that Benedict Arnold was a “loose cannon” and if he had died from his wounds at the Battle of Saratoga, he’d have been a hero instead on the battlefield in Saratoga there is a plaque, “In memory of the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army who was desperately wounded on this spot, the sally port of Burgoyne’s Great Redoubt 7th October, 1777, winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution.” The plaque does not say this most brilliant soldier is Benedict Arnold.

I would recommend both of these books to people interested in good, well-researched nonfiction. While the books are marketed toward young adult readers, I would happily recommend them to adult readers as well because they are not dumbed down history. These titles are "draw you in non-fiction".

The NLS annotations:
BOMB: THE RACE TO BUILD AND STEAL THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON 
SHEINKIN, STEVE                                   Original Date: 2012
Award-winning author recounts the history of the atom bomb and the race among the United States, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union to build--or steal--the deadly weapon during World War II. For junior and senior high and older readers. Robert F. Sibert Award. 
BR   19890       DB   75708  
                                     
NOTORIOUS BENEDICT ARNOLD: A TRUE STORY OF ADVENTURE, HEROISM, AND TREACHERY  
SHEINKIN, STEVE                                   Original Date: 2010
Narrative biography of Benedict Arnold (1741-1801). Discusses his birth in colonial Connecticut, brave and reckless character, heroism in George Washington's revolutionary army, marriage to a prominent  Philadelphian, switch in allegiance to the British army, and death in disgrace and exile. Cites primary sources.       
BR   19317         DB  74602

Services for Students with Print Disabilities

Harpur, Paul, and Rebecca Loudoun. "The Barrier Of The Written Word: Analysing Universities' Policies To Students With Print Disabilities." Journal Of Higher Education Policy & Management 33.2 (2011): 153-167. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 May 2013.

I moderated a talk at the Texas Library Association conference this year called "Thinking Outside the Book: Providing Library Service to the Blind and Visually Impaired". We had the librarian at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a patron of our Talking Book Program and a librarian involved with disability services at the University of Texas all come and speak about things that their libraries are doing to make the library more accessible or things that they could do to improve. 

The article I read today goes into detail the steps that colleges in Australia are taking to make textbooks more accessible to those with print disabilities. I liked that these authors called it "print disabilities" to include blindness, dyslexia and some motor disabilities. These are the same criteria that would qualify someone for the library where I work. The research focus was to include students in 1-3 year of their university studies. (I'm wondering if this is 1-3 year credit wise, since I know that credits vs. year at school are sometimes different). The researchers were trying to see if there was availability of support for students with print disabilities and then if there was a substantial difference in when materials were received compared to non disabled students. Their study looked at the websites of 39 universities and had survey responses from 22 universities in Australia. 

It talked about a court case that I was not familiar with Hinchcliffe v University of Sydney. The girl sued the school for not providing reasonable accommodations, but then there was some disagreement between what was considered reasonable. The court decided in favor of the school, but it raised some questions for me regarding 1) where do preferences come into play? A student may be able to use both Braille and audio format but may have a preference for one over the other. Or in this case there was a preference in the format of audio (cassette vs. CD)? What is the student's responsibility when it comes to requesting a preference? There is different complexity when it comes to some formats over others. This case did help decide though that universities have the responsibility to act reasonably to support students and universities need to prove that they acted reasonably. One point that came up several times in the article is that students need to communicate with those who are working with them to discuss what are reasonable options. 

The article also talked about what texts might be considered reasonable, such as different options for scanning  (hand scanning vs. digital scanning and the amount of editing involved). With scanned texts there may be a need to add footnotes, or page numbers or to make sure that images are described, but those things are necessary especially if one is trying to cite sources. I have run into trouble with helping patrons cite sources when they are using nontraditional formats (the page number on the Braille book is not the same as in the print edition, or audiobooks don't have page numbers and what is considered reasonable when citing for academic purposes? -- Apparently some Braille texts give both the print page number and the "regular" print page number. Follow standard rules when citing audiobooks as you would for other audio texts.) 

To gather data about information provided the researchers gathered data from a survey and viewed university websites and university library websites. The survey asked such questions as if there was a policy for prodding assistance to students with print disabilities, who provides assistance, what assistance. They searched websites for keywords related to print disabilities (didn't state those key words) to test to see if the websites informed students that those services were available. They also asked how many students were served. With that information they came up with a number stating that there were anywhere between 548 - 1250 students with print disabilities in Australia universities each year. The most common type of help provided to students was retrieval of texts from the shelf and assistance with photocopying. They found that 50% of first year students got materials before the semester starts and there appears to be improvement between first year and second year students in getting material earlier. Reasons listed for the delay include no finalized reading list from the instructor, students don't report that assistance is needed, and waiting on a response from the publisher. Some suggestions for things to do to improve the situation for students include advertising services and policies to students, and sending requests to publishers for material with a statement of intent that you will only use the material with print disabled students. Also making sure that there is a formalized policy at the university level for assisting these students. 

The article also mentioned services in other countries including BookShare in the United States which is one service for textbooks. Depending on situation and current grant funding there may be a cost associated with using BookShare. Also, the books are read with a computerized voice and some are text to speech and may have player compatibility issues. I was wondering about the cost associated with these textbooks. If it is a membership like through BookShare or the similar Learning Ally or if it is similar to the costs of an e-book? I would be interested in seeing if this study's results would be different now two years later, or maybe in five years. I also wonder what the study would be like if it was replicated in other countries and I would have liked it if it mentioned the National Library Service as well. 

Book Club prep -- Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Rather than read journal articles this week, I've been on a nonfiction kick with my book reading. I just finished Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In. I am attending a book club meeting next month with another mom from kiddo's daycare and her friends. Most of the moms will be other state employees. Some will be lawyers.

These are my notes for book club discussion:

34 pages of footnotes. Lots of research, quotations, references to studies, discussion with other professionals. 

Girls growing up today are not the first generation to have equal opportunity, but they are the first to know that all that opportunity does not necessarily translate into professional achievement. Many of these girl watched their mothers try to "do it all" and then decided that something had to give. That something was usually their careers. 15 -- what about smaller family size and women starting a family later in life what if that's the something that has to give? 

quoting Judith Rodin-- "My generation fought so hard to give all of you choices. We believe in choices. But choosing to leave the workforce was not the choice we thought so many of you would make." 14 -- what choices do we want for our daughters? How would we react to our daughters making different choices than we did? 

Another 23 percent of mothers are co-breadwinners, contributing at least a quarter of the family's earnings. 23 -- why is a quarter considered co-? Is it because quarter more represents real life than half? 

"Tiara Syndrome", where "women expect that if they keep doing their job well someone will notice them and place a tiara on their head"... And anyway, who wears a tiara on a jungle gym? -- (jungle gym metaphor instead of career ladder) -- Disney princesses and toddlers wear tiaras on playground. Tiaras for toddlers, see Cinderella Ate My Daughter but that is another discussion.  -- pg 63

Child care is a huge expense, and it's frustrating to work hard to just break even. But professional women need to measure the cost of child care against their future salary rather than their current salary. -- 102

The Lit Lover's Guide for this book http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/14-non-fiction/9147-lean-in-sandberg?start=3  has a question about this section of the book asking how this changes / effects your attitude towards money and employment after having a child. This is something my husband and I have discussed quite a bit as we anticipate a move and anticipate adding to our family in the coming years. Sandburg also talks about how women need to "lean in" and take advantage of opportunities and challenges and work hard right up until they have kids, not back off in anticipation of having kids or other familial changes. 

Something Sandburg didn't discuss but maybe I wish she did is that in addition to family life and work life she has to make time for herself. She also didn't address the pressures of women in business to look a certain way. I assume that as a former aerobics instructor there's a certain amount of athleticism she holds herself to? 

There was another question on the Lit Lover's Guide that I thought pretty interesting, but didn't catch when I was reading the book. It asked about the attitude difference between Sheryl and her hubby when it comes to the kids. She worries she isn't spending enough time with them. He focuses on being grateful and proud of the time they are able to spend together. I had a friend comment on some pictures I posted on Facebook of my family. She said that it was great that even though I worked all week I still had the energy to go have adventures with my kid on the weekend. She said I make good use of the time I have with my kid when I'm not at work.

This was a fast read with lots of research and statistics that didn't feel bogged down by its research. I don't know that I got a lot of new information from it that I hadn't heard bits and pieces of it otherwise, but I think reading this book in the analytical way I read when I read for book clubs and discussing this book will give me an opportunity to gain some new perspective from mothers on varying steps of the career jungle gym. Will comment more after book club. 

new Nook at our house

Oakley, GraceJay, Jenny. "Making Time" For Reading: Factors That Influence The Success Of Multimedia Reading In The Home." Reading Teacher 62.3 (2008): 246. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 8 May 2013.

I have a toddler at my house and a new Nook Color HD. Part of hubby’s justification for buying the new Nook was that kiddo really likes reading The Monster at the End of This Book on the IPhone. In Oakley’s article about “Making Time: for Reading, she is specifically discussing electronic talking books much like my kiddo’s Grover book. It talks to her, it lights up the word as it reads, it makes “boing” and “crash” noises and animated illustrations as appropriate. This study looks at kids that are a little older than my daughter and gages their interest in reading based on using electronic talking books at home. These kids are in upper elementary school to middle school. My daughter is two. 

Like I said, I work for the library for the blind in Texas, but we also serve patrons with some learning disabilities too. We frequently encounter parents and teachers who don’t understand why we don’t provide the text and the audio to books that we send (part cost, part not getting people the book in the format we need, etc..) so I know that people read and follow along, but I guess I didn’t think of it in terms of these interactive books. Oakley writes, “Because of the benefits of being read aloud to, we reasoned that having students simply listen to the ETBs would be preferable to them not engaging with written texts at all in the home context, although we hoped that they would read along too.” The kids Oakley was studying were not learning disabled kids though, they were just not particularly interested in reading. Oakley’s study was short in time frame so there were things that they just didn’t get to find out (was there an attitude change toward reading?) but in general the kids did read more and found the reading they did enjoyable, especially when they were able to engage their families into reading with them. 

Another topic that I hadn’t considered is that some parents and classroom teachers don’t consider these electronic (and interactive) books to be “real” reading. For my own kiddo, if that’s the only way she was reading perhaps I’d think that too, it’s hard to say since she isn't old enough to read alone and she has other book experiences. Right now she only has one ebook, and she is a pre-reader.  My kiddo enjoys going to the library, calls the library staff “Mommy’s friends” and has access to books in print and now electronically. She’s not always super interested in having us read to her (very mood dependent) but she likes to say “I read it myself” and sit with her books by herself. 

The article also talked about using book selection to increase the reader’s interest in reading (to include subject matter, the amount of book interaction, highlighting available and narrator’s style). Presently with my kiddo I try to balance her picking books that she wants to read (books about characters she sees on TV and books that I know have quality reviews in some of the trusted library reviewing sources). 

I hope that she can continue to find enjoyment of books whether reading with me or without me, and whether reading in print or in an e-format. 

race cars

I am leading a book club tonight at work on The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.  In The Art of Racing in the Rain, the main character, Denny, is a racecar driver and I believe he races in a sort of F1 kind of style (It is my understanding that is the more popular style in Europe.) Denny’s specialty is racing in the rain and that attracts the attention of some of the racecar sponsors because Denny is at the start of our book still training and trying to make it. Some of the book focuses on how Denny has to have a day job and Denny has money troubles.  I wanted to read more about racecars (I was sort of thinking about what I was going to do if someone who was a real racecar fan came to my book club and started to tell me how the book was wrong on some of the technical details and I have no idea).   

I read an article about racing electric cars in the September 2011 issue of New Scientist. Presently I live in Austin, TX and there was a big hubbub when Austin built an F1 track about the damage it would do to the environment and weighing the environmental costs vs. income for the city. They were building on land a ways out of town, but complaints were that it was dirty and noisy. I work for the library for the blind and I’ve heard commentary about electric cars being more dangerous for blind people who walk places and use their ears to tell what the traffic is doing, so those were issues that interested me. Another fact that caught my attention was that innovation happens on the racetrack that makes its way to general commercial cars. Some of the aerodynamics issues were interesting because things that typically make a commercially produced car heavier also make it safer (material it is made of, heavier doors, airbags, etc.) and racecar manufacturers have to balance that with safety and your general car owner wants a safe, affordable car and doesn’t care as much about how fast it goes.

There is an international governing body of motoracing based in Paris and they care about road relevance. With greater interest in electric cars from the general public that has produced greater interest in electric cars for racers too. There is some talk of creating major races that include electric cars (racing each other not your standard gas cars). In an article in Environmental Engineering from February 2013, I learned that many changes in cars over the years started on the racetrack like some of the more advanced braking systems and changes in aerodynamics. The article in Environmental Engineering mentioned that while car manufacturers for the general public and motor racing companies sometimes work together one thing to acknowledge is their different goals. The general public want cars that are not as risky technology wise and that can be easily mass produced. Cars for racers are often more individualized for a person or performance.  

I also read an article by Paul Marks called "Dawn of Motorsport’s Electric Dream". This article seemed to indicate that for some racing fans the loud noise is a plus and will be missed if auto racing moves to a quieter car. As a parent, I’m wondering if it might make it even more of a family event because you can take kids to it without the added trouble of making sure the kiddos are wearing their ear protection. In the meantime, Marks states that some car makers are researching sound panels and futuristic hums to come up with new sorts of car noises.

I drive a safe, affordable car and as long as I have enough "umph" to keep up on the highway I don't care about how fast it goes. In my lifetime I would like to own a hybrid or electric car last I checked the prices were still a little high for those vehicles, so I hope smart people are looking at these issues and coming up with new ideas on the subject.

Articles read: Dawn of motorsport’s electric dream. By: Marks, Paul, New Scientist, 02624079, 9.24.2011, Vol. 211, Issue 2831

Pullin, John. “Leading the Charge.” Environmental Engineering 26.1 (2013): 33 – 35. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2013.

"What Makes A Good YA Love Story?"

Hedeen, Katrina, and Rachel L. Smith. "What Makes A Good YA Love Story?." Horn Book Magazine 89.3 (2013): 48-54. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 May 2013.

I picked this article to start off my blog because it is a recently published article about one of my favorite topics: young adult fiction and it discussed one of my favorite books from 2012, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.  

I liked that this article included examples of books written by men and women, and books about straight, questioning and homosexual relationships. While the books discussed in this article weren't all happy books, they weren't all sad depressing breakup stories either (even Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler isn't all a sad depressing story and does include both a love story and a break up story). The book also made a point to discuss the awkwardness of first time sexual experience and make that a realistic awkwardness that sometimes is missing in young adult literature. 

Here is a copy of the book review I posted on my library's blog and my GoodReads page for the book The Fault in Our Stars.


Book review for library blog --
My favorite book of 2012 was easily The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I am primarily a print reader and I bought it when it came out, I then listened to it when it appeared on BARD, then went back to my print copy to look for a specific quote after listening to it and ended up reading it again. That’s three times in a period of six months I read this book!! You know I’m a busy reader, I don’t have time to re-read that much but these characters and this story sucked me in.

 The Fault in Our Stars is a book about two snarky cancer patients who meet and fall in love at a cancer support group, and go on an adventure to Amsterdam to hunt down the author Peter Van Houten to find out how his book An Imperial Affliction ends and what happens to the characters after the story is over.

 Van Houten’s book also happens to be a book about cancer, but Hazel (our female lead) explains why it isn’t really a cancer book because as Hazel explains about An Imperial Affliction, “But it is not a cancer book, because cancer books suck. Like, in cancer books, the cancer person starts a charity that raises money to fight cancer, right? And this commitment to charity reminds the cancer person of the essential goodness of humanity and makes him / her feel loved and encouraged because s/he will leave a cancer curing legacy. But in AIA, Anna decides that being a person with cancer who starts a cancer charity is a bit narcissistic, so she starts a charity called The Anna Foundation for People with Cancer Who Want to Cure Cholera.”(38) I feel that in The Fault in Our Stars, John Green gave a lot of thought into giving us real characters with strong personalities. Shortly after Augustus and Hazel meet, he asks her what’s her story. She starts to tell him her diagnosis. He replies, “Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes their disease. I know so many people like that. It’s disheartening. Like, cancer is in the growth business, right? The taking-people-over business. But surely you haven’t let it succeed prematurely.”  (27) Later in the book, they are discussing the trope of the cancer patient, “Right, but really, I mean aside from us obviously, cancer kids are not statistically more likely to be awesome or compassionate or perseverant or whatever.” (110)

This book could have easily been just a smooshy, over sentimental book, but it’s not. The book also goes into points about how those left behind heal or how you hope they will heal and choosing love. Augustus is describing his love of Hazel to Van Houten and he says, “I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.” (194)

This book has received positive reviews in such publications as: Booklist, Entertainment Weekly, Kirkus, New York Times Book Review, NPR, USA Today, Washington Post and others.

This is another book where the author’s personal experience plays a role in the story. John Green knows what he’s writing about when he’s talking about the cancer ward in a hospital. Before becoming a writer he worked as a chaplain in a hospital children’s oncology ward. There is a forward in the book about a young woman he met there and a foundation in her honor.

The love story of Gus and Hazel is definitely a love story I recommend. It has full drawn out characters that you want to love, and people you want to root for, snarky humor, and tears. Hazel uses these words to describe her favorite book, “An Imperial Affliction”, “Sometimes you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living human’s read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can’t tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.” (28) I have that weird evangelical zeal about this book but it’s taken me six months to be able to put my love for this book into words.  I’m highly recommending The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

The fault in our stars DB 74112
Green, John; Rudd, Kate. Reading time: 7 hours, 16 minutes.
Read by Kate Rudd.

Human Relations
Young Adult

A miracle drug may have given sixteen-year-old cancer patient Hazel a few more years, but she is still depressed. Then Hazel meets cute Augustus during a support-group meeting and her world shifts in unexpected and inspiring ways. Some strong language. For senior high and older readers. Commercial audiobook. 2012.