Read this when
The Fault in Our Stars
For when loving someone means knowing you'll get hurt. 'Okay?' 'Okay.' 💙
Who it's for
Hazel's dry, clear-eyed narration treats being a teen with cancer as a full life, not a tragic backdrop, which validates young people with serious illness who are tired of being pitied.
Feelings it meets
What it is
The Fault in Our Stars is John Green's 2012 young adult novel. Hazel Grace Lancaster, a teenager living with terminal cancer, meets Augustus Waters at a cancer support group, and the two bond over books and fall in love. Hazel is fixated on a novel that ends without resolution, so Augustus arranges a trip to Amsterdam to meet its reclusive author, Peter Van Houten, and the meeting does not go as they hoped.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla, where held) and as an audiobook. Not public domain. Adapted as a 2014 film.
Before you start
Heads up: A teenager's death from cancer.
Age: Ages 14+
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.William Ernest Henley, “Invictus”
