So you read The Fault in Our Stars...or maybe you just watched the movie...and you LOVE it. You cried. You can't stop thinking about the story. Your heart is still in love with it...and your heart is still a bit broken. And worst of all, there is nothing else on the market that even compares. Well, what I always recommend is when you can't find something out there you like, you should dig a bit deeper--and in this case, dig a few many years back!
When I was growing up, I discovered Lurlene McDaniel. Seriously, if there was ever an author who could make you love her characters and then rip your heart out, stomp on it, hit it with a hammer, and set it on fire, it would be this woman. And, amazingly, I always came back for more!
After being diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Dawn is delighted to find a friend to battle alongside with her, until her friend, Sandy, slips back from remission.
And then there's the tear-jerking sequel, I Want to Live:
I didn't just read these books once. I read them over and over. And I can't help thinking that The Fault in Our Stars is an updated version of these type of books. They capture something that is timeless and twenty years from now, there will probably be another book that hones in on these same fears and emotions that are almost too big for adults to accept, let alone young adults. These books make me smile because they are exactly what I love about literature--they help us deal with hard truths and concisely put into words those huge emotions that are sometimes hard to simplify.
So whether life imitates art or vice-versa, we will never tire of hearing stories that we relate to...because sometimes it's easier to cry over fictional characters than to accept and deal with our emotions over real life situations.
