An Abundance of Katherines ~ John Green

Title: An Abundance of Katherines
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 256 pages.
Copyright: 2006


Summary: 
Plot: After being dumped nineteen times by girls named "Katherine", ex-child prodigy, Colin Singleton (what irony!) conspires to think of a Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability and solve the great mystery that is relationships.
Major Characters: Collin Singleton, Hassan, Lindsey Lee Wells
Major Subjects: Humor


School Library Journal Review:
Grade 9 Up–This novel is not as issue-oriented as Greens Looking for Alaska (Dutton, 2005), though it does challenge readers with its nod to postmodern structure. Right after intellectual child-prodigy Colin Singleton graduates from high school, his girlfriend (who, like the 18 young women and girls whom he claimed as girlfriends over the years, is named Katherine) breaks up with him and sends him into a total funk. His best friend, Hassan, determines that he can only be cured with a road trip. After some rather aimless driving, the two find themselves in Gutshot, TN, where locals persuade them to stay. There, Colin spends his spare time working on a mathematical theorem of love, hypothesizing that romantic relationships can be graphed and predicted. The narrative is self-consciously dorky, peppered with anagrams, trivia, and foreign-language bons mots and interrupted by footnotes that explain, translate, and expound upon the text in the form of asides. It is this type of mannered nerdiness that has the potential to both win over and alienate readers. As usual, Greens primary and secondary characters are given descriptive attention and are fully and humorously realized. While enjoyable, witty, and even charming, a book with an appendix that describes how the mathematical functions in the novel can be created and graphed is not for everybody. The readers who do embrace this book, however, will do so wholeheartedly.–Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston 


Review: 
Picture this: You used to be a childhood prodigy. Member of an academic game team. You excelled in school. You were special. You met a girl named Katherine and the two of you started dating. 

Then she dumps you. 

Then eighteen more girls named Katherine dump you. 

Suddenly, you're a teenager with no claim to fame except for your former status as a prodigy. No new ideas. No girl. No plans for the summer excepting wasting away in your room and moping. 

This is not your life. But it is Colin Singleton's life immediately after his graduation from high school. Colin is a new high school graduate, a soon-to-be-ex child prodigy, and this theorem, the theorem that could potentially make him a genius, is the problem he is facing.

You see, Colin has a problem. Colin falls in love very easily.  He tries to make himself a genius by coming up with the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, to not only make himself known for something, but to also figure out why all nineteen Katherines have dumped him.

As a distraction, Colin and his best friend Hassan set out on a road trip to nowhere, in The Hearse (Colin's car). Seeing a sign for the grave of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the boys head to Gutshot, Tennessee; a small town, where they happen upon Lindsey Lee Wells, a girl who is nothing like any Katherine has been for Colin. Their road trip stops in Gutshot, Tennessee. But the adventures don't. Hired by a local bigwig to compile an oral history of Gutshot, Colin and Hassan find themselves staying with Hollis and her daughter, Lindsey. It is in Gutshot that Colin finally has what he has always wanted, a truly original idea. Thus, Colin begins to create a theorem of love in his attempt to understand his own rocky love life. 

The hook of An Abundance of Katherines is an intriguing one. Looking at the cover, it'd be easy to assume this was a novel about cloning. Instead, it's a coming-of-age story for Colin and his best friend, Hassan. Colin's desparation to prove himself--not only as a genius but also to the Katherine XIX (as she's known in the novel)--is a fascinating journey. The novel does hit some predictable markers for a young adult story, but John Green hits them with such refreshing honesty and nicely done characters that you won't really mind that much. 


Reading Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Notes about Audience: Recommended for ages 14 and up. 

 Other books by John Green:

http://johngreenbooks.com/

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Like Nothing but the Truth by Justina Chen Headley

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Going Bovine ~ Libba Bray

Title: Going Bovine
Author: Libba Bray
Publisher: Random House Children's Books, 496 pages
Copyright: 2009


Summary:
Plot: Sixteen year old Cameron Smith is diagnosed with Mad Cow disease and discovers that he will die. He goes on a wild ride in a surreal dreamland while he is in a drug-induced state.
Major Characters: Cameron (or Cam) Smith, Dulcie,
Major Subjects: Fantasy, Death and Dying


VOYA Review:
Sixteen-year-old Cameron Smith is a social outcast and known slacker. He has no desire to care about anything in life until he is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, otherwise known as mad cow disease, and discovers that he is going to die. As Cameron's health continues to worsen, he sinks into a dreamland that resembles a world on a bad drug trip. Hope arrives in this parallel universe with punk angel, Dulcie, who makes Cameron believe there is a cure for his illness. Cam's journey for that cure takes him on a cross-country road trip from Texas to Florida where he makes friends with a dwarf nicknamed Gonzo and a talking garden gnome who believes himself to be the Viking god Baldar. Together they encounter mythical jazz musicians, battle fire giants, escape a happiness cult, meet universe-hopping physicists, dodge wacked-out snow-globe police, and befriend fame-obsessed teenagers. Bray portrays Cameron so realistically that he is every teen struggling with his or her identity. At times, readers will both love and hate Cameron as his adventures are alternately comical, nail biting, and heart wrenching. Readers will be rooting for Cameron to overcome his obstacles to save himself and claim his love for Dulcie. The novel is a laugh-out-loud, tear-jerking, fantastical voyage into the meaning of what is real in life and how someone can learn to live. It is a must-purchase for any libraries wanting to reach out to all teens who need to know there are stories out there for them. Reviewer: Laura Panter


Review:
Buckle up, readers. You're in for a wild ride. You won't know what's real and what's not, but then again, that's the whole point. This novel is a monumental undertaking and somehow Bray accomplishes it. 


Cameron is going nowhere at school. He gets fired from his job at Buddha Burger with good reason. He talks cynically about his family and they aren't too fond of his sarcasm either. His only hobby seems to be to listen to music he hates so he can mock it. He's high at least once a week. Basically, Cameron is on a slow but uncontrollable skid to nowhere.


That is, until his recent bouts of uncontrolled behavior and terrifying visions are revealed to be caused not by drug use (as his parents suspect) but by Creutzfeldt-Jakob's, better known as mad cow disease. Basically, the tissue in his brain is breaking down, turning into a spongy mess (and apparently also letting in armor-clad wizards and threatening pillars of flame). Pretty soon, Cameron is finding himself poked and prodded, stuffed into hospital beds and down MRI tubes, with a terminal diagnosis and the horrible realization that he might be about to die without ever having lived. Does that sound like anyone you know? I thought so. 

The only chance that Cameron has to save his life is to undertake a mission to save the world. No biggie. 


Guided only by cryptic clues from an elusive and strangely attractive punk rock angel named Dulcie and accompanied by a hypochondriac, video game obsessed dwarf named Gonzo, Cameron sets off on a wild goose chase to find the enigmatic Dr. X, a physicist who disappeared as if into thin air years ago. According to Dulcie, Dr. X holds both the potential to destroy the entire world and the ability to cure Cameron's disease. Joined along the way by a talking yard gnome,  aided by drunken frat boys and a Portuguese warbler and a visionary jazz man, Cameron's trip culminates in what might be the world's wackiest spring break. 


Living inside Cameron's head as he travels across the US after ditching the hospital with the LP is tedious, at times, and fantastically funny at others. The book takes place in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. By turns hilarious and tragic, Going Bovine above all will keep readers guessing, as they must unravel what is real, what is a dream, and whether any of that really matters.


As a kooky old woman that Cameron meets on his journey says, “No one should die until they’ve wrung out every last bit of living they can,” and this book is absolutely alive on every page. 


Favorite Line: "The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World. I'm sixteen now, so you can imagine that's left me with quite a few days of major suckage." 


Reading Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Notes about Audience: Recommended for ages 16 and up (curse words, especially overuse of the "f" word, "pot talk" and other mature content in this book)

 Other books by Libba Bray:

http://www.libbabray.com/books.html

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