"The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

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Green, J. The Fault in Our Stars. New York, NY: Dutton Books, 2012. Print. ISBN: 9780525478812. Hardcover. $17.99.

Annotation: Hazel is only sixteen years old, but she's dying of terminal cancer. When she meets Augustus Waters at a support group, the two of them begin to see the world as more than a sentence to certain oblivion, but as something with the potential for life, love, and finding some answers. 

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Sometimes the stars really are misaligned. Sixteen-year-old Hazel is dying of terminal cancer. She knows she's never going to get better, and her days start to become this blur of just sitting around watching reality TV. Her mom decides she's probably depressed, and she makes her go to this support group, which Hazel thinks is totally lame - until the day that Augustus Waters shows up. He's a cancer survivor himself, and he lost a leg to it, so his view on the world is so different than anything she's ever heard before. They fall in love, while sharing all their thoughts, their feelings, opinions, and Hazel's favorite book, which is called An Imperial Affliction. This book drops off at the end, right in the middle of a sentence, and leaves her with so many questions about what happens to the characters. So, when Augustus reads it, he is so distraught that he actually contacts the author, and what follows is this whirlwind journey, literally across the globe, to find some answers and adventure. And through it all, Hazel and Augustus learn that they can still experience joy, and light, and love, despite the fault in their stars.

Even though this book received amazing reviews, and there was the movie that came out, I never read it until now because I didn't want to read a book about cancer patients. I knew, as Hazel so aptly puts it herself, that I would be, "a puddle of tears" by the end. But I am so glad that I did. The characters are so witty and likeable and intelligent, I was drawn in from the first pages and I had to know what happened. Yes, I did cry, but I also laughed out loud, and got a lot of serious warm fuzzies along the way. This is a story about determination, about not giving up, about finding love in the darkest places, despite what might be written in the stars.


Literary Awards: 

• #1 New York Times bestseller
• #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller
• #9 The Bookseller (UK) bestseller
• #1 Indiebound bestseller
• New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
• Starred reviews from Booklist, SLJ, Publisher’s Weekly, Horn Book, and Kirkus

"You don't even understand. John Green is amazing. You have  to read Looking for Alaska next. Just read all his books. The Fault in Our Stars is just the beginning." - Emily, age 17

Watch the trailer for The Fault in Our Stars movie!