While most books authored by young adults deal with a coming of age, Harriet Rowland didn’t have that privilege. Diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the age of 17, The Book of Hat is an amazing, frank and endearing story of a young woman and her journey learning to live with terminal cancer. Wisdom well beyond her youth, Harriet's observations are beautifuly poetic and laugh out loud funny. Her writing can also be found on her blog: My Experience of Walking the Dog.
- Donated by Oscar Pipson

New Zealand's 'The Fault in our Stars' - only it's true! Harriet Rowland (Hat) was 17 when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that began in her knee. Hat started a blog called 'My Experience of Walking the Dog' in which she detailed her journey with cancer. This book is a collection of those posts which Hat managed to edit before she died on 7 March 2014.

I started reading this book before I got out of bed on a Saturday morning and just couldn't put it down, finishing it by 10am. Hat is a great writer and I feel tells her story honestly; the highs, the lows, the positive days and the negative days. Her favourite book is John Green's 'The Fault in our Stars'. I would love to see New Zealand English teachers use Hat's book with their students alongside Green's book and have students do a comparison. The only thing I would like to see in future editions is a postscript telling the reader when Hat passed away, and possibly a message from her family. ( )