Booktalks Quick and Simple

	Green, John. THE FAULT OF OUR STARS New York : Dutton Books, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0525478817 (4 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 What makes this novel such a standout? Well, let’s start with the title, The Fault in Our Stars. It’s a quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves ... (that we are underlings)". This story is about teens who have cancer, and they think Shakespeare got that quote all wrong! It’s not their fault they have cancer … the fault IS in the stars … life’s just a crapshoot and they lost. Hazel was thirteen when she got the diagnosis of terminal cancer. At sixteen she is being kept alive by a miracle drug and an oxygen tank. She meets Gus at a cancer support meeting. Gus is hot, and has a great sense of humor … even though a malignant bone tumor has claimed most of one leg. Spoiler Alert! Yep, a love story about two kids with cancer is bound to be a tearjerker. But this book isn’t just sad, it’s also funny, and heartwarming, and beautiful … and not beautiful because it’s sad, but because it’s a unique story that explores the wonder of living through the eyes of kids who know they have limited time. Hazel, Gus, and their friend Isaac are bright kids who handle life, and cancer, with dark humor and an indisputable love. They explore universal questions about the meaning of life and death, but not in a maudlin way like a Hallmark movie. This is a novel for smart, sophisticated teens (and adults). A word of caution though; this is so good you’re going to want to race through it. Please don’t! Take time to savor the language and to understand the allusions to literature and the real world. John Green makes lots of pop-culture references, including everything from Maslow's hierarchy to “The Red Wheelbarrow” to Anne Frank and Dom Pérignon. (Patty McClune, Conestoga Valley High School, (Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Awards Program Booktalks 2012-2013) Booktalk #2 Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year old Hazel is post-everything else, too; posthigh school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee) Booktalk #3 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green introduces Hazel Grace Lancaster, who is a stage IV cancer survivor who due to a medical breakthrough has been given a reprieve from death. Her parents and doctor insist that she attend a cancer support group where she meets Augustus "Gus" Waters, a basketball player who has lost his leg to osteosarcoma. The two connect when Hazel introduces Gus to her favorite novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Hazel is obsessing over the book's ambiguous ending, so the enterprising Gus arranges a trip to Amsterdam where they meet the author who is an American expatriate. Of course, the trip does not turn out as planned. Gus and Hazel's witty repartee and poignant struggles with life and death issues are endearing. The tough subject matter and romantic interludes make this a book for more mature readers. The Fault in Our Stars won this year’s Odyssey award for best audio-book and virtually every review of the book is starred. (Sharon Nehls, Colorado Blue Spruce Award nominee, 2014) Booktalk #4 This book will bring every emotion to light: you will laugh, cry, mourn, love, you will cheer them on, you will be frustrated, confused even angry. Hazel is dealing with a terminal form of cancer and yet this is not a story about dying but rather a story about being in love and truly living. Hazel meets Augustus at a Cancer support group and where they fall in love... they are wise beyond their years, brave funny and inspiring. The faults of these characters is what makes them so intriguing, relatable, and completely unforgettable. As Green takes us into another world, he takes us deeper into ours. We are all really terminal in a sense and we determine how we will spend our moments of life. Everyone should read this book…….. you won’t be disappointed. (Donna Bartholomew, Library Media Specialist,Pine Lake Middle School, Washington Evergreen Book Award, 2015)
	SUBJECTS: Cancer -- Patients -- Fiction. Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Green, John.
THE FAULT OF OUR STARS
New York : Dutton Books, 2012
IL YA
ISBN 0525478817

(4 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

What makes this novel such a standout? Well, let’s start with the title, The Fault in Our Stars. It’s a quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves ... (that we are underlings)". This story is about teens who have cancer, and they think Shakespeare got that quote all wrong! It’s not their fault they have cancer … the fault IS in the stars … life’s just a crapshoot and they lost. Hazel was thirteen when she got the diagnosis of terminal cancer. At sixteen she is being kept alive by a miracle drug and an oxygen tank. She meets Gus at a cancer support meeting. Gus is hot, and has a great sense of humor … even though a malignant bone tumor has claimed most of one leg. Spoiler Alert! Yep, a love story about two kids with cancer is bound to be a tearjerker. But this book isn’t just sad, it’s also funny, and heartwarming, and beautiful … and not beautiful because it’s sad, but because it’s a unique story that explores the wonder of living through the eyes of kids who know they have limited time. Hazel, Gus, and their friend Isaac are bright kids who handle life, and cancer, with dark humor and an indisputable love. They explore universal questions about the meaning of life and death, but not in a maudlin way like a Hallmark movie. This is a novel for smart, sophisticated teens (and adults). A word of caution though; this is so good you’re going to want to race through it. Please don’t! Take time to savor the language and to understand the allusions to literature and the real world. John Green makes lots of pop-culture references, including everything from Maslow's hierarchy to “The Red Wheelbarrow” to Anne Frank and Dom Pérignon. (Patty McClune, Conestoga Valley High School, (Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Awards Program Booktalks 2012-2013)

Booktalk #2

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year old Hazel is post-everything else, too; posthigh school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)

Booktalk #3

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green introduces Hazel Grace Lancaster, who is a stage IV cancer survivor who due to a medical breakthrough has been given a reprieve from death. Her parents and doctor insist that she attend a cancer support group where she meets Augustus "Gus" Waters, a basketball player who has lost his leg to osteosarcoma. The two connect when Hazel introduces Gus to her favorite novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Hazel is obsessing over the book's ambiguous ending, so the enterprising Gus arranges a trip to Amsterdam where they meet the author who is an American expatriate. Of course, the trip does not turn out as planned. Gus and Hazel's witty repartee and poignant struggles with life and death issues are endearing. The tough subject matter and romantic interludes make this a book for more mature readers. The Fault in Our Stars won this year’s Odyssey award for best audio-book and virtually every review of the book is starred.

(Sharon Nehls, Colorado Blue Spruce Award nominee, 2014)

Booktalk #4

This book will bring every emotion to light: you will laugh, cry, mourn, love, you will cheer them on, you will be frustrated, confused even angry.

Hazel is dealing with a terminal form of cancer and yet this is not a story about dying but rather a story about being in love and truly living. Hazel meets Augustus at a Cancer support group and where they fall in love... they are wise beyond their years, brave funny and inspiring.

The faults of these characters is what makes them so intriguing, relatable, and completely unforgettable.

As Green takes us into another world, he takes us deeper into ours. We are all really terminal in a sense and we determine how we will spend our moments of life.

Everyone should read this book…….. you won’t be disappointed. (Donna Bartholomew, Library Media Specialist,Pine Lake Middle School, Washington Evergreen Book Award, 2015)

SUBJECTS: Cancer -- Patients -- Fiction.
Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.