Many students would probably identify John Green as the awesome teacher on the Crash Course History videos that Mr. Stone shows to his AP US History students throughout the year. However, many people may not know that John Green is also an American young adult author. Green began writing at a young age as he thought that it was an escape. He is most known for writing his debut novel Looking for Alaska and a New York Times Bestseller The Fault in Our Stars.
Looking for Alaska was released in 2005 and was Green’s first novel published. About a year later, the book was awarded the Printz Award which is awarded to “the best books written for teens based entirely on its literary merit.” The novel is set at a boarding school in Birmingham, AL, a town in which Green actually attended Indian Springs School, a private day and boarding high school. Living in Birmingham for Green’s high school career is what allowed him to truly capture the nature of one of Alabama’s most well-known towns. This story follows Miles Haltler, a young teen that is about to make one of the biggest transitions of his life. Miles is suddenly uprooting his world and everything he has ever known to embark on a new adventure: Culver Creek Preparatory School, a boarding school located in Alabama. Miles looks forward to the change and is excited about the new opportunities that the school will have to offer. It is here the Miles must bear the brunt of the so called “weekday warriors”, a group of rich kids that live at the school during the week and then escape to their huge mansions and all their shenanigans on the weekends. With the help of his friends Chip, Takumi, Lara, and the infamous Alaska Young, the beautiful yet mysterious girl who is at the pit of Miles’s attention and who continuously pulls at his heartstrings, they are able to pull pranks on other students, faculty members, and the headmaster himself. Many of these pranks can be compared to ones carried out by Green while at Indian Springs. Throughout the novel, Miles is conflicted with what is his labyrinth, a question that comes from Simon Bolivar’s last words “How will I ever get out of this labyrinth.” In the end he is finally able to answer the question he has been longing to figure out.
While Looking for Alaska is John Green’s introductory novel to establishing himself as a writer, The Fault in Our Stars is probably his most famous work. This is a direct result of the 2014 major motion picture, starring Shailene Woodley and upcoming actor Ansel Elgort. This is Green’s sixth novel and was published in January 2012. He was able to decide on the storyline for this novel from his devout work in a children’s hospital in his younger years and from a friend who died of thyroid cancer at the young age of sixteen. For those of you that have not read the book or seen the movie, this story is mostly about the relationship between Hazel Grace Lancaster, an active cancer patient, and Augustus Waters who is in remission. It follows the two as they meet at support group; bond over their love for An Imperial Affliction, a novel whose main character resembles Hazel; and fall madly in love with each other. While Hazel cannot contain her affection for Augustus she is torn between allowing him to love her the way she loves him, unconditionally, and the fact that her days in this world are numbered. Things eventually take a turn for the worst and Hazel must contemplate the fact that “oblivion is inevitable” and how love no matter the length of time can be extraordinary.
Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars are both must-reads and are most definitely stories for the ages. They are two of the best books that I have ever read so I encourage everyone to grab a copy of each and dive in. Also remember that The Fault in Our Stars comes to DVD on September 16!