Catalyst (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Catalyst
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Laurie Halse Anderson
illustrator =
cover_artist = Michael Morgenstern
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Young adult novel
publisher = Viking Press
release_date = September 2002
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 233 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0670035661 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by = Speak
followed_by =

"Catalyst" is a 2002 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a senior named Kate Malone. It can be regarded as a sequel to "Speak", as it has the same setting in Merryweather High School and a cameo appearance by Melinda Sordino (the protagonist in "Speak"), and it takes place a year after the events in "Speak".

Plot summary

Kate Malone, a Preacher's daughter and high school student who is excellent in chemistry and aspires to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, faces multiple tragic situations ranging from rejection by MIT to the fire of her neighbor Teri Litch at the end of her senior year. All these become catalysts propelling self-centered, arrogant Kate to change. Throughout the novel Anderson makes extensive references to the periodic table.

Characters

Kate Malone: The protagonist, an academically stellar senior and track athlete. Her father is a minister and her mother, Colleen Malone is deceased.

Teri Litch: Antithesis of Kate Malone, a lonely, kleptomaniac girl who is born into a poverty-stricken dysfunctional family but is a good mechanic.

Mikey Litch: Teri's two-year-old brother.

Mrs. Litch: Teri's mother. She appears to be somewhat scatterbrained.

Mr. Malone: Kate's father, a good-hearted minister. When the Litches' house was destroyed in a mysterious fire, he offered to let Teri and Mikey move in with his family -- much to Kate's chagrin.

Toby Malone: Kate's fifteen-year-old brother.

Mitchell A. Pangborn III: Kate's boyfriend who was accepted to Harvard University.

Betty: An eccentric old woman, neighbor to the Litches and Malones. She claims she can see Jesus in her television set. Teri's mother moves in with her after the fire.

Sara: Kate's best friend, her boyfriend is Travis.

References

*cite book | title=Catalyst | last=Anderson | first=Laurie Halse | authorlink=Laurie Halse Anderson | publisher=Viking Children's Books | location= | edition=1st ed. | date=September 2002 | id=ISBN 0670035661

External links

* [http://www.allreaders.com/Topics/Info_21933.asp Reviews at Allreaders.com]