Julie Halpern – The Hub

Fault In Our Stars Readalike Graphic Next week, the highly anticipated movie based on John Green’s 2012 Teens’ Top Ten winning title The Fault In Our Stars will be released. The first post I ever wrote for The Hub offered a list of books that fans of The Fault in Our Stars would enjoy and with the movie coming out so soon, now seems like a good time to add to this list.

Since my last post, I have discovered even more books that will appeal to fans of TFiOS, so whether you are looking for a book to occupy you until you see the movie or a list of books to fill your summer, hopefully you will find what you are looking for here.

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy: Alternating between points of view and points in time, this story slowly reveals glimpses of Alice’s battle against cancer, but at its heart it is really the story of the relationship between Alice and her best friend Harvey, who she enlists to help her complete her bucket list. This is a book about what happens when you don’t die, and how difficult it can be to decide to grow as a person.

The F-It List by Julie Halpern: Another book about a bucket list, in this case, Alex is left to complete her best friend Becca’s bucket list when Becca is too sick to do most of the activities herself. After months of not talking due to Becca’s inexcusable actions on the day of Alex’s father’s funeral, the list helps to bring the two back together and allows Alex to work through her grief after her father’s death. Halpern creates characters who are real in both their strength and their flaws. Continue reading For Fans of The Fault In Our Stars: What to Read Next

March is National Craft Month! I love crafting in many forms and have led craft workshops at the library system where I work. Apart from reading, crafting is one of the few things that I can get completely lost in. I think for me it started in middle school. I had a bit of a rough time in eighth grade (a situation partly of my own creation), but always felt grounded by our arts and crafts class, where we explored several different art forms without being judged on the â€œqualityâ€ of our finished products. In high school, I took a class in drawing and painting, sure at first that I would just eke by with a barely passing grade. Instead, I ended up very pleasantly surprised at the sketches that I was able to make as the result of patient instruction and a little concentration. As an adult I’ve taken jewelry-making and other craft classes, and have realized that crafting for me is almost a form of meditation, and I need to make more time for it in my life. So to inspire myself as much as you, our Hub readers, I’ve put together a list of YA crafting guides and YA novels whose main characters craft in some form.

Continue reading Crafting and Creative Pursuits in YA Nonfiction and Fiction