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Title: Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson ISBN: 0-14-240001-7 Publisher: Speak Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.03 (61 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Definitely gotta read this!!!
Comment: Catalyst is a fiction book that deals with situations all teenagers and most people face as well as bad situations that no one should have to be face. It is about a girl who is a straight-A science and math geek, ranked third in the senior class. She is a cross-country runner, and a minister's daughter named Kate Malone. Her boyfriend Mitchell Pangborn III has already decided to go to Harvard. Kate was still waiting on her acceptance letter from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), which is the only college she applied to. Kate life is spinning faster and faster out of control. When her father shows up at her school one day and gives her a thin envelope from the MIT admissions office. Inside the letter says we regret to inform you...! When she is rejected from MIT its like her whole world as come to an end. Then on top of being rejected, her neighbors, the Litch's house gets burned down and Kate's father invites them to come stay at their house. But Teri Litch isn't exactly Kate's best friend. In fact, Teri stole a watch from Kate! Kate has to share a room with Teri. When they move in a secret that the Litch family has been hiding comes out in the open. What is the secret? What will happen? And can Kate handle all of this without going insane?
By Jessica B.
Rating: 5
Summary: Good Kate vs. Bad Kate
Comment: The book Catalyst is a very good book. It is about a teenager named Kate Malone. She is a straight-A science and math student, her father is a minister, she is an ace long-distance runner, and she is Mitchell Pangborn III new girlfriend. Kate applies to one college which is MIT. First, her dad comes to her school with the acceptance letter from MIT. When she read it, it said that she wasn't accepted. The same day she didn't get accepted to MIT, her father took in their neighbors, the Litch's because their house got burned down. Kate really doesn't get along with Teri very well because she stole her watch, which was really special to her. So now she has to live with Teri for a while and Kate's father wants to get people at the church to help and rebuild Teri's house. People are helping, but then something happens with Mikey (Teri's little brother) and that messes a lot of things up. There is also a secret that Teri has been keeping from Kate. Whats the secret? What happens to Mikey? Read this really good book to find out!
Rating: 4
Summary: Reality vs. Denial
Comment: Kate Malone is ranked 3rd in her high school class and has had dreams of attending MIT, her dead mother's alma mater. After being deferred early decision, she applies regularly. And to her utter shock and dismay, she receives the thin envelope.
Ouch.
It doesn't help matters that her boyfriend, Mitchell Pangborn, has been accepted early decision to Harvard. Sarah, her best friend, is off to Bryn Mawr (OT, but I live right near Bryn Mawr College!!!). While they know where they'll be next year, Kate does not. It's a secret, but she didn't apply to Syracuse and Drexel, her safeties. At first, she thinks there must be some mistake. How could she have been rejected with her grades? Her mother did go there, after all. She can't face it. It can't be the truth, can it?
It is. Pretending to be her mother, she phones MIT to appeal her rejection and finds that she doesn't have the "oomph" of the chosen ones, despite being very bright. And her writing skills "could use some work." :(
Mr. Malone, Kate's father, is a preacher, a doer of good deeds. This urge of wanting to always to the right thing is the main reason why the Hatchers have moved in, meaning Teri Hatcher, her son, and her mother, Mrs. Hatcher. Teri is a student at Kate's school and also happens to be an enemy - she bullied Kate when the two were younger and is known as a school bully. A cafeteria scenario in which jocks choose to egg her on turns into a huge gang brawl. Teri both cries and causes tears. This is prior to the fire that partially wrecks her home. That's why Mr. Malone invites her to live with them temporarily. Kate shudders at the thought of Teri, who has stolen a necklace Mitch gave her, plus a watch.
Kate learns to cope with rejection. An unexpected friendship blossoms and she realizes that although things do not always go according to plan, she'll move on from the letdowns.
Good character depth and nicely assembled plot, although there were some slow moments. Anderson has created a book where things aren't perfect and ideal in the protagonist's world, and I think that is what adolescents need to read about. It can either serve as an escape from their problems or help them deal with their own issues. Or they can relate. Either way, this novel is enjoyable.
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Title: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson ISBN: 014131088X Publisher: Speak Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
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Title: Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson ISBN: 0689848919 Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Feed by M. T. Anderson ISBN: 0763617261 Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA) Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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Title: Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman ISBN: 0786807695 Publisher: General Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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Title: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares ISBN: 0385729340 Publisher: Delacorte Press Pub. Date: 22 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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