Catalyst

Catalyst

By: Luarie Halse Anderson

Pages: 231

ISBN: 0142400017

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Setting: Merrywater, Somewhere. The book never states a specific place but the name of the high school is Merrywater High.

Catalyst is about Kate or Katie depending on who is talking to her. Kate has a dream and her whole life she’s worked toward that dream of attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT. Kate is the daughter of Reverend Malone and big sister/mother of Toby. Kate’s mother passed away when she was younger of pneumonia. Kate’s mom attended MIT, so naturally with the love of science and her mom going there MIT was the perfect choice for Kate. The first part of the book you are strapped in and enjoying the ride of Kate waiting for “the letter,” you know the one that decides her fate, the acceptance or denial letter. It was in the later in Kate’s story. Kate now has to learn how to cope and figure out what else she is going to do seeing how she didn’t apply to any other schools.

This book was very well written. I found myself not waiting to put it down. It was nice to see that I wasn’t the only one that made the mistake of only applying to one school. Luckily for me it worked out. Unfortunately for her it didn’t. I would recommend this to any high school student so that they can learn the important message of service and planning ahead because life doesn’t always work out the way you want it to.