Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson

Bibliographic Information
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Publication year: 2002
ISBN: 978-0670035663

Reader’s Annotation
Organized and over-scheduled high school senior Kate has every minute of her life planned, from taking care of her father and younger brother to applying to the MIT chemistry program. When the house next door burns down and she finds herself sharing a room with her nemesis, Kate’s universe is thrown out of orbit in a way she never thought possible.

Plot Summary
Kate Malone is a busy high school senior, balancing a boyfriend and taking care of her father and younger brother on top of track practice, school work, and applying to her dream school, MIT. As the town minister, Kate’s father invites their next door neighbors to stay when a fire unexpectedly burns down their home. Teri, Kate’s classmate and the opposite of a friend, moves into Kate’s room with her little brother. Then, tragedy strikes during a community project to rebuild Teri’s house. The event begins a catalyst of events that make Kate realize everything she was doing to make her life perfect might not be so important, and a friendship with Teri blooms in the wake of unimaginable pain.

Critical Evaluation
The strongest part of Anderson’s narrative is her imagery. Told in first-person from Kate’s perspective, descriptions of everyday emotions and actions come alive for the reader. Phrases such as “I have Medusa eyes, and they are battling the contacts” (p. 109) and “I fry this high school skin to a crisp and emerge from the ashes, a college student” (p. 39) effectively communicate a stream-of-consciousness narration inside Kate’s head. This differs from the more usual first person narration style presented in past tense. The narration in Catalyst gives the reader the impression that they are following Kate’s thoughts as they happen, instead of her having time to consider the situation and reflect on it afterward. This style sets Catalyst apart from others of its genre.

Author Information
Laurie Halse Anderson is the New York Times-bestselling author who writes for kids of all ages. Known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity, her work has earned numerous national and state awards, as well as international recognition. Two of her books, Speak and Chains, were National Book Award finalists. Laurie was honored with the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award given by YALSA division of the American Library Association for her “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature…”. Mother of four and wife of one, Laurie lives in Northern New York, where she likes to watch the snow fall as she writes.

Source: http://madwomanintheforest.com/laurie/

Genre
Fiction

Curriculum Ties
Chemistry
College Planning
Health (Social and Family Issues)

Booktalking Ideas
Introduce the characters of Kate and Teri, emphasizing their rivalry at the beginning of the novel and how the events bring them together until they want to spend most of their time with each other or no one at all. Without giving away the death of Teri’s little brother, read a passage that takes place after this has happened to get the potential readers interested in the story. Then give a rating from 1-5 and tell the audience why this is my rating, and take questions.

Reading Level/Interest Age
Amazon: Grade 7 and up, Age 12 and up
Publisher’s Weekly: Age 12 and up
School Library Journal: Grade 10 and up

Challenging Issues
Bullying
Death of a Loved One
Depression
Language

Preparing for Potential Challenges
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-potential-challenges.html

Why the Item Was Chosen
There are a lot of high schoolers who think they have planned their life to the point where nothing can go wrong. They have every minute scheduled and have come up with a detour for every possible roadblock. While thinking ahead is a valuable skill to develop in one’s adolescent years, it is also important to know that something completely unexpected can pop up and change the direction of your life. Anderson also shows a classic enemies-becoming-friends scenario that, while not new, bears repeating in young adult literature because it happens often in real life. Many young adults are not aware that circumstances can change people’s opinions of one another, which is why Catalyst is part of my collection.