More after the break.
If you haven't heard of John Green, he is a co-creator of a Youtube channel called "Brotherhood 2.0" or "Vlogborthers" (more about this in about thirty-five words), a spectacular young adult fiction writer (more about this in two paragraphs), and the host of a history education web series (more about this in my next Ode to John Green post).
John Green and his brother, Hank, started up the Vlogbrothers Youtube Channel in 2007, when I was a sophomore (or something) in high school. They started out pretty shakily; there was terrible video editing, early vlogger awkwardness, etc. As they kept progressing, their videos got better and better, and they got more and more popular, becoming "Youtube famous" with Hank's song "Accio Deathly Hallows" right before the seventh Harry Potter book came out. Ever since, the brothers have had an incredible, gigantic, amazing fanbase who refer to themselves as "Nerdfighters" (not people who fight nerds so much as nerds who fight to make the world a better place). And yes, dear reader, I am a Nerdfighter, and proud.
But I should stop gushing about why John and Hank Green are amazing, spectacular people who have done things such as build wells in Uganda and raise thousands of dollars for the families of children with cancer, and probably get to the point of this post.
John Green's novels are amazing. Absolutely amazing. Not only are his books funny/witty/heartbreaking, they're also laden with beautiful imagery and metaphors. John Green refuses to talk down to his readers even though they're primarily in their teens, and for that, I think his novels are some of the best YA fiction novels out there, and NPR apparently agrees pretty heartily. Specifically, I'd want to teach Looking For Alaska, Green's first novel, about a boy and his unrequited love and acceptance of rebellion in a boarding school; Paper Towns, a novel also about a boy and unrequited love, but with the love interest disappearing; or The Fault in Our Stars, John Green's newest book, and, in my opinion, his masterpiece centering on two teenagers who are in love, and who both have cancer.
Looking For Alaska is, I think, a great novel to teach to maybe Freshmen or Sophomores. I will warn you that there's a very mild sex scene, but it's seriously nothing that should be censored. Looking For Alaska would tie in really well with typical "classic" literature, specifically Catcher in the Rye. There's quite a bit of overlap in the two novels, mostly on themes of rebellion and isolation. In Looking For Alaska, the protagonist, Miles, a.k.a. "Pudge," moves to a boarding school. He arrives as a typical nerdy type of kid, until he meets a girl named Alaska, who leads him down a road of rebellion which actually seems beneficial to Pudge. The idea of rebellion being, at times, beneficial, could spark some interesting discussion among students, if a bit of a controversial subject for teachers to propose. Looking for Alaska, like all of John Green's novels, is also peppered with metaphors and literary allusions, which would be interesting to discuss as a class. What's the relevance of this quote? Why would this character reference this work? Why would Green have the instructor teach this novel at this point in the book? Pudge also has an obsession with memorizing last words which, after reading the entirety of the novel, seems to have more meaning than just an interesting character quirk.
Paper Towns might be my favorite John Green novel in theme and message. Paper Towns has always seemed like a kind of beta version of Looking for Alaska to me; it has similar ideas and characters, at times, but to me, they're far more three-dimensional and full, and the message is something I find incredibly pertinent and insightful: we will never see others as anything more than an idea, but we can make strides to see them a bit more accurately. The message, I think, ties in perfectly with The Great Gatsby, as it clearly and closely reflects Gatsby's love for the idea of Daisy. In Paper Towns, the protagonist, Quentin, is in love with his long-time neighbor, the legend of a girl, Margo Roth Spiegelman--Spiegelman, by the way, translates to "mirror-maker" in German. Quentin and Margo have grown apart since they were kids, but now, in high school, Margo brings Quentin along on a night of pranks for Margo to get revenge on her cheating boyfriend. Quentin is excited to rekindle his friendship with Margo, but the next day, she disappears, and then seemingly leaves clue for him to find her. One interesting discussion I would love to bring up with a class is that, essentially, Quentin is always wrong. In at least 80% of his assumptions, Quentin is wrong. What does this say about assumptions? How does such an unreliable narrator skew the author's perception of events and characters? There's also this absolutely wonderful scene in which the tense changes immediately from past to present. The characters are doing something dangerous, and they're terrified--discussing the way the tense shift changes the tone would be such a great short essay prompt, or discussion topic. Margo's last name, and the idea of people as ideas is also, clearly, a really interesting idea to incorporate into a classroom. Paper Towns is also just a novel I think all young adults, and even adults, should read.
The same goes for The Fault in Our Stars, Green's newest novel to date. The Fault in Our Stars is already somewhat well-known, if nothing else, just from hype; before it even had cover art, it was a New York Times and Amazon bestseller, and it was just being pre-ordered. Discussing The Fault in Our Stars objectively, to give summary is very difficult for me. For one, saying it's a book about teens with cancer isn't accurate, because that summons up Lurlene McDaniels paperbacks, and that is not how this novel is written. Saying it's a romance isn't quite accurate, either, because it is, but that's not the main focus on the story, either. The main focus is these characters, and how they interact, and how they react, and how they deal with these looming ideas of love, and fate, and death, and happiness. Someday, I will write up a full unit plan for The Fault in Our Stars. Someday, I will do it, and I will teach it, and I will open up students' eyes to how death and grief and love and happiness and illness and resentment and humor can be written, but for now, I think all I can say is, please read this book, and please, please, share it with your students.
One day I'll write that unit plan, and I will post it. I promise. For now, though, I'm going to read it again, and then probably again, and just appreciate it.
John Green's novels are amazing. Absolutely amazing. Not only are his books funny/witty/heartbreaking, they're also laden with beautiful imagery and metaphors. John Green refuses to talk down to his readers even though they're primarily in their teens, and for that, I think his novels are some of the best YA fiction novels out there, and NPR apparently agrees pretty heartily. Specifically, I'd want to teach Looking For Alaska, Green's first novel, about a boy and his unrequited love and acceptance of rebellion in a boarding school; Paper Towns, a novel also about a boy and unrequited love, but with the love interest disappearing; or The Fault in Our Stars, John Green's newest book, and, in my opinion, his masterpiece centering on two teenagers who are in love, and who both have cancer.
Looking For Alaska is, I think, a great novel to teach to maybe Freshmen or Sophomores. I will warn you that there's a very mild sex scene, but it's seriously nothing that should be censored. Looking For Alaska would tie in really well with typical "classic" literature, specifically Catcher in the Rye. There's quite a bit of overlap in the two novels, mostly on themes of rebellion and isolation. In Looking For Alaska, the protagonist, Miles, a.k.a. "Pudge," moves to a boarding school. He arrives as a typical nerdy type of kid, until he meets a girl named Alaska, who leads him down a road of rebellion which actually seems beneficial to Pudge. The idea of rebellion being, at times, beneficial, could spark some interesting discussion among students, if a bit of a controversial subject for teachers to propose. Looking for Alaska, like all of John Green's novels, is also peppered with metaphors and literary allusions, which would be interesting to discuss as a class. What's the relevance of this quote? Why would this character reference this work? Why would Green have the instructor teach this novel at this point in the book? Pudge also has an obsession with memorizing last words which, after reading the entirety of the novel, seems to have more meaning than just an interesting character quirk.
Paper Towns might be my favorite John Green novel in theme and message. Paper Towns has always seemed like a kind of beta version of Looking for Alaska to me; it has similar ideas and characters, at times, but to me, they're far more three-dimensional and full, and the message is something I find incredibly pertinent and insightful: we will never see others as anything more than an idea, but we can make strides to see them a bit more accurately. The message, I think, ties in perfectly with The Great Gatsby, as it clearly and closely reflects Gatsby's love for the idea of Daisy. In Paper Towns, the protagonist, Quentin, is in love with his long-time neighbor, the legend of a girl, Margo Roth Spiegelman--Spiegelman, by the way, translates to "mirror-maker" in German. Quentin and Margo have grown apart since they were kids, but now, in high school, Margo brings Quentin along on a night of pranks for Margo to get revenge on her cheating boyfriend. Quentin is excited to rekindle his friendship with Margo, but the next day, she disappears, and then seemingly leaves clue for him to find her. One interesting discussion I would love to bring up with a class is that, essentially, Quentin is always wrong. In at least 80% of his assumptions, Quentin is wrong. What does this say about assumptions? How does such an unreliable narrator skew the author's perception of events and characters? There's also this absolutely wonderful scene in which the tense changes immediately from past to present. The characters are doing something dangerous, and they're terrified--discussing the way the tense shift changes the tone would be such a great short essay prompt, or discussion topic. Margo's last name, and the idea of people as ideas is also, clearly, a really interesting idea to incorporate into a classroom. Paper Towns is also just a novel I think all young adults, and even adults, should read.
The same goes for The Fault in Our Stars, Green's newest novel to date. The Fault in Our Stars is already somewhat well-known, if nothing else, just from hype; before it even had cover art, it was a New York Times and Amazon bestseller, and it was just being pre-ordered. Discussing The Fault in Our Stars objectively, to give summary is very difficult for me. For one, saying it's a book about teens with cancer isn't accurate, because that summons up Lurlene McDaniels paperbacks, and that is not how this novel is written. Saying it's a romance isn't quite accurate, either, because it is, but that's not the main focus on the story, either. The main focus is these characters, and how they interact, and how they react, and how they deal with these looming ideas of love, and fate, and death, and happiness. Someday, I will write up a full unit plan for The Fault in Our Stars. Someday, I will do it, and I will teach it, and I will open up students' eyes to how death and grief and love and happiness and illness and resentment and humor can be written, but for now, I think all I can say is, please read this book, and please, please, share it with your students.
One day I'll write that unit plan, and I will post it. I promise. For now, though, I'm going to read it again, and then probably again, and just appreciate it.
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