john

THE WORLD OF JOHN GREEN

"With each page Green builds more than simply a surface-level coming of age novel; he envelops his readers with a vivid collection of magnetic characters, beautiful settings, intriguing facts, and powerful dilemmas that provide readers with an authentic and unique window into the lives of teenagers struggling to make sense of themselves and the world around them." Barkdoll, Jayme K, and Lisa Scheriff. "'Literature Is Not a Cold, Dead Place': An Interview with John Green." English Journal 7.7 (2008): 67-72. Print.

IDEAS FOR THE MEDIA CENTER

John Greene writes with great skill. His dialogueis always clever and occasionally brilliant. The fourfriends are verbally quicker and funnier than any likelyteenager but about as quick and funny as most teenagersaspire to be, successfully or not. Bailey, Michael. "Review of Paper Towns." Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 52.5 (2009): n. pag. ProQuest Platinum. Web. 24 Nov. 2010.

As a study of human nature, Green's novel is every bit as complex and intriguing as his Printz Award winner, Looking for Alaska. As a bonus, there is fun and cleverness thrown in through pages of footnotes explaining mathematical properties and various esoteric bits of knowledge that Colin has, and which Hassan has to constantly analyze for him as either "interesting" or "not interesting." This book is obviously more lighthearted than its predecessor but nevertheless manages to arrive at some fairly serious conclusions about relationships and bringing sense and meaning to one's life-something that no formula can graph. Blasingame, James. "An Abundance of Katherines." English Journal 97.1 (2007): n. pag. ProQuest Platinum. Web. 24 Nov. 2010.

Mr. Green's Will Grayson is straight, and Mr. Levithan's is gay, but the characters' sexuality is only one of many aspects explored in this entertaining, profane and incredibly thought-provoking novel. McPherson, Karen. "Duo's 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' Packs 1-2 Punch for Teens." Pittsburgh Post Gazette 10 May 2010: n. pag. ProQuest Platinum. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.

...Mature novel, peopled with intelligent characters who talk smart, yet don't always behave that way, and are thus notably complex and realistically portrayed teenagers. Sieruta, Peter D. "Looking for Alaska." Horn Book Magazine Mar.-Apr. 2005: n. pag. ProQuest Platinum. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.

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