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Catalyst

Laurie Halse Anderson

Ages 14–18

Readers rate it 3.7 (32 on Hardcover)

240 pages · Released Sep 15, 2003

Content report card

Catalyst parent’s guide: what’s inside

High confidence

Violence

LGBTQ+ themes

Substance use

What it offers

Educational value

A note for parents

Catalyst is a thoughtful young adult novel about grief, loss, and learning to ask for help, centered on a high school senior whose life unravels after a tragedy. While the book deals with heavy emotional and mature themes including death and trauma, it handles these subjects with care and ultimately conveys messages of compassion and community. The content includes some mild language and sexual references appropriate to the age group, but the primary concern is the emotional intensity rather than explicit content. This is best suited for mature teens aged 14+.

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From the publisher

Meet Kate Malone—straight-A science and math geek, minister's daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell "Early Decision Harvard" Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it... Meet Kate Malone—straight-A science and math geek, minister's daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell "Early Decision Harvard" Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all—or so she thinks. Then, things change as suddenly as a string of chemical reactions; first, the Malones' neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri's little brother. The days are ticking down and she's still waiting to hear from the only college she applied to: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of her control—and then, something happens that truly blows it all apart. Set in the same community as the remarkable Speak, Catalyst is a novel that will change the way you look at the world.

Shelved under

  • Death
  • Teenage girls
  • Neighborliness
  • Fiction
  • Fathers and daughters
  • High schools
  • Schools
  • High school seniors
  • Children's fiction
  • Schools, fiction
  • Fathers, fiction
  • Death, fiction

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ISBN 9780142400012 · Puffin

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