The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a heartbreaking yet uplifting story of first love. The novel tells the story of sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient who has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at a cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss and life.
Borrow The Fault in Our Stars, or one of these books written for the young adult audience, from the Lititz Public Library. Some deal with first love, some deal with cancer and all are intelligently written with humor and heart.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
A seventeen-year-old has managed to become part of every social group at his high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
After she dies in a car crash, a teenaged girl relives the day of her death over and over again until, on the seventh day, she finally discovers a way to save herself.
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, a high school senior decides to fulfill his greatest fantasies.
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Suddenly unpopular, a sixteen-year-old girl finds an ally in a classmate whose honesty and passion for music help her to face what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life.
Forever Changes by Brendan Halpin
Although encouraged to apply to colleges, a mathematically-gifted high school senior with cystic fibrosis dwells on her mortality and the unfairness of life.
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
While on vacation in California, a sixteen-year-old and her friend conspire to find a candidate for her first kiss, but a painful secret threatens their lighthearted plan and their friendship.
After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Two friends make a deal to help one another overcome the aftereffects of their cancer treatments in preparation for eighth-grade graduation.
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
A seventeen-year-old boy’s summer in Arkansas is marked by his cousin’s death by overdose, an alleged spotting of a woodpecker thought to be extinct, failed romances and his younger brother’s sudden disappearance.
Notes From the Dog by Gary Paulsen
When a young grad student shows up at the beginning of summer to house-sit next door, a fourteen-year-old can’t imagine the profound effect she will have on his life by the time summer vacation is over.
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork
A seventeen-year-old boy is determined to avenge the senseless death of his sister but after he meets a boy who is dying of cancer, both boys find their lives changed by their interactions.
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
When a high school student receives a box in the mail containing thirteen recordings by a classmate who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night listening to her voice recounting the events leading up to her death.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray
A disaffected sixteen-year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob’s disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, a seventeen-year-old gifted cellist contemplates whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.
Originally published on June 20, 2014 in the Lititz Record Express.