Catalyst (novel)

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Catalyst
First edition cover
Author	Laurie Halse Anderson
Cover artist	Michael Morgenstern
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Young adult novel
Publisher	Viking Press
Publication date	September 2002
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	233 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0670035661 (first edition, hardback)
Preceded by	Speak

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.

1 Plot summary
2 Characters
3 References
4 External links

[edit] 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.

[edit] Characters

Kate Malone: The protagonist, an academically stellar senior, track athlete, and a minister's daughter.

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

Mr. Malone: Kate's father, a good-hearted minister who decided to help Teri against Kate's will when Teri's house was burnt down.

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

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