Love and Other Unknown Variables

In this debut novel about love and coming-of-age, Alexander explores the heartbreaking themes of first love, illness, attachment and loss.Teenage Charlie has life down to a science. A math and science whiz, his life is certain and exact, until he encounters a year that turns things upside down. A new cast of characters enters Charlie's life, beginning with the new English teacher in town, Ms. Finch, who is tall, young, beautiful and eccentric. With her, Charlie and his classmates have to learn to bend their notions of literature's irrelevance and begin to explore the right sides of their brains. Along with this new challenge comes Charlotte, a mysterious friend of Charlie's sister, Becca, who appears at his home one afternoon and steals his heart. Charlie's attraction for Charlotte grows, but so does his realization that Charlotte needs something more than a swooning teenage boy in her life-she needs a friend, and a loyal one. The author spins this tale in colorful language that grips the reader from the start. Each character is vividly described with images and sounds that hang in the mind: "perfect donut" mouths, calf-hugging skinny jeans, smirks, blinks and clever dialogue. Within the first few chapters, readers will be captivated by this eclectic group of young souls who are desperately trying to understand life, love, literature and their own futures. Readers will appreciate Alexander's poetic style, her mastery of tension, and the use of concrete imagery to depict the angst, passion and confusion these characters feel about the unknowns of leaving for college in a year. In one scene, Greta and James, friends of Charlie, discuss the fact that the crew may be split up after graduation. Charlie lovingly responds, "A year is a long time...twelve months, fifty-two weeks, three hundred sixty-five days, eight thousand seven hundred sixty hours." The characters' quirky affinities-Charlie's for math, Charlotte's for drawing, Ms. Finch's for literature-paint a world of passion and personality.A heartwarming YA story of love and entering the unknown territories of adulthood. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Charlie believes that all problems can be solved using science and math, and his experiences at the Brighton School of Math haven't changed his perspective at all. His classmates are used to tormenting the English teacher, who is driven away each year by pranks that are somehow ignored by an administration that places little value on the subject. On the first day of his senior year, however, everything changes when he meets a beautiful stranger at Krispy Kreme and discovers that her older sister is the new English teacher. Charlotte of donut shop fame begins to hang out at his house with his younger sister Becca, both of whom attend a different high school and have become good friends, which is a surprise to everyone who knows how anxiety interferes with Becca's social life (or lack thereof). Charlie's plan to focus on his goal of attending MIT comes to a crashing halt when he finds himself falling hard and fast for a girl who has a fatal problem he can't solve. Charlotte and Charlie make a sweet couple, but it is Charlie who steals the show, as Alexander creates a believably confused adolescent frustrated by his feelings and his lack of control over the cancer that is destined to take Charlotte from him. Perfect for fans of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and Lurlene McDaniel's fiction.-Kerry Sutherland, Akron-Summit County Public Library, OH

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