https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im en-us 2018-06-15 05:38:15 UTC 2025-07-03 16:42:34 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Lightdecrease.png otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267323449 Green, J. (2017). Turtles All the Way Down. New York, NY:  Penguin Random House. 


This follows the main character Aza Holmes, a 16 year old girl who lives in Indianapolis and struggles with OCD and Anxiety disorders. Because of the severity of her mental illness', Aza finds it difficult to be present in most situations for she is always ruminating in her obsessive and anxious thoughts. One of the ways her OCD manifests itself is when she thinks about her fear of the human microbiome and is constantly afraid of infection, specifically of developing C-difficile infection. When she starts to ruminate in these thoughts she starts obsessively picking at never fully healed callous on her finger because she believes draining it will remove pathogens and prevent her from developing C-diff. Aza also has two close best friends, Daisy Ramirez and Mychal Turner. One day while at school, Aza learns that the local town billionaire Russell Pickett has both mysteriously and conveniently gone missing during a fraud investigation. Aza is intrigued by this information for she has always had a small crush on Russell's son, Davis Pickett. Daisy Aza's friend however, is much more intrigued of this story because of the tempting $100,000 reward if any information regarding his whereabouts is known. Daisy convinces Aza to help her try to find information about Russell's disappearance and tells her they can split the reward money. They both sneak over to the Pickett's house by taking a canoe up the river to their property. They are attempting to check the security cameras to see if they caught a final glimpse of Russell before he dissapeared, when they are caught by a security guard. They tell security that they both are friends of Davis and they just had a hole in their canoe, and the security guard bring them to Davis. Once inside, Aza and Davis hit it off right away and Aza begins to feel romantic feeling towards Davis. Aza is skeptical at the idea of 'a relationship forming between her and Davis because she is afraid her OCD and anxiety will prevent her from having a normal relationship. Davis agrees to give the both of them the $100,000 if they stop looking for his dad. Aza and Daisy both agree that they will cease their search and split the money. Aza and Davis continue to spend time together although every interaction they have usually ends in Aza having to leave because she cannot keep her anxious thoughts at bay. Aza then discovers fan fiction written by Davis online that depict his feeling about his fathers disappearance, as well as his romantic feelings for Aza. As their relationship continues to grow, Aza starts to be vulnerable around Davis by telling him about her obsessions and thought spirals. Aza thinks divulging this to him will make him want to stop spending time with her and he will view her as crazy. Davis however is very supportive and understanding of Aza's mental illness and reassures her that he does not think she is crazy in the slightest. One of Aza and Daisy's friends, Micah invites them all to an art exhibition where she is showcasing some of her art. The exhibition takes place in an unfinished drainage tunnel system that the Pickett family was supposed to be responsible for completing. While at the exhibit Aza and Daisy go off exploring on their own and unexpectedly solve the mystery of where Davis' dad russell had gone. They noticed a rotting stench coming from the mouth at the begining of the tunnel. Both too scared to investigate for themselves, Aza decides to instead tell Davis this information so he can decide what he wants to do. Davis sends an anonymous tip to the police about his father potentially being in the tunnel, and to his dismay the authorities in fact do find him dead. Since both of Davis' parents have passed away, him and his brother decide to both move to Colorado for a fresh start. At the end of the book Davis goes to Aza's house one last time to tell her his decision of moving and gives her a spiral painting that reminded him of the way her mind would ruminate sometimes. Although Aza is sad when Davis leaves, she feels grateful for the friendship they had shared and all the ways Davis made her feel validated in her mental illness. In the end she feels confident in the progress she has made and is hopeful for a bright future ahead of her. ]]> 2018-06-15 06:54:38 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267323449 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267323496 Green, J. (2012). The Fault in Our Stars. New York, NY: Penguin Group(USA).


  Hazel Grace is a 16 year old cancer patient who while reluctantly attending a cancer support group meets a boy her age named Augstus(Gus) Waters. Throughout the book they develop a deep connection which leads them to creating a strong friendship and romance. Hazel introduces Gus to her love of books, especially focusing on her favorite book, "An Imperial Affliction" by Peter Van Houten. Gus later surprises Hazel with an invitation to meet Peter Van Houten at his home in Amsterdam. Hazel is ecstatic about the invitation, but just before they are about to leave Hazel unexpectedly suffers a serious health scare in which her lungs are filled with fluid and she is forced to go to the ICU. Hazel feels disheartened that her episode will prevent her and Gus from meeting her favorite author, and routinely keeps referring to herself as a "grenade", for she feels it is inevitable that she will hurt Augustus when she dies. After some debate her doctors agree she will be okay to still make the trip. However, meeting Van Houten does not go as Hazel and Gus anticipated. After meeting him in person, Hazel learns to her dismay that the author she has looked up to all this time appears to be nothing more than a mean-spirited alcoholic. Hazel and Gus leave his house feeling disappointed but still manage to have a good day in Amsterdam afterwards. They visit the Anne Frank house where they share their first kiss. The following day Gus confesses to Hazel that while she was in the ICU, he had a body scan which revealed his cancer had spread throughout his entire body. They return to Indianapolis where Augustus' condition continues to worsen. In his final days Gus arranges a pre-funeral in which Hazel and his close friend Issac give their eulogies with Augustus present. Gus dies shortly after and to Hazel's surprise, the author Van Houten appears unexpectedly at his funeral. During this Van Houten reveals to Hazel that his own daughter died of cancer and his book "An Imperial Affliction" was written as a coping mechanism to deal with her death. The novel ends with Hazel finding a eulogy Augustus had written for her in which he told her while their time they shared was brief, he was grateful and happy to have loved her all the same. The book ends with Hazel's  bittersweet conclusion that she is happy to have had the opportunity to love Augustus as well. ]]> 2018-06-15 06:55:03 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267323496 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267323950 American Author John Green was born August 24, 1997 in Indianapolis, Indiana. His family moved shortly after his birth, first to Michigan, then to Alabama, then finally settles in Orlando FLorida where John spent most of his childhood. After his middleschool years his family moved again to Birimingham Alabama where he attended Indian Springs Highschool. After graduating Highschool, John moved to Ohio to attend Kenyon College where he double majored in English and religious studies. After graduating college, he spent five months working at Nationwide children's hospital in Columbus Ohio. He originally intended to pursue the path of becoming a priest, but after working with many sick children suffering from life- threating illnesses at the hospital he was inspired to instead become an author. His experiences at the children's hospital gave him the inspiration to write one of his most recognized books today, The Fault in Our Stars. Green also lived in Chicago for some time while working as a publishing assistant and editor for a a book review journal. It was during this time that Green started writing his first novel Looking For Alaska. ]]> 2018-06-15 06:59:20 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267323950 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267464985 Green, J. (2005). Looking For Alaska. New York, NY: Penguin Group(USA).


Miles Halter is growing tired of his predictable and uneventful life when he decides to attend Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama for his junior year of high school. While attending Culver Creek Miles meets and quickly befriends Chip Martin, who goes by the "Colonel". Miles then meets a girl a very fascinating yet mysterious girl named Alaska Young.  Miles is immediately smitten with her beauty, enthralled by her charm and entranced with her free spirit and fun nature. He is also impressed with her quick wit and intellectual mind. So when Miles learns Alaska has an older boyfriend he is extremely let down. The night before school begins Miles is gets unexpectedly hazed by the wealthy students who only attend school during the day. They are called the "weekday warriors" by all the other students. After Miles is humiliated by being thrown in the lake by the Weekday warriors and he vows to his new friend "The Colonel" that he will get his revenge on them. Alaska agrees to help him and the Colonel set up an elaborate prank to embarrass the weekday warriors for what they did to Miles. As the story progresses Miles falls even harder for Alaska and the both of them grow extremely close. Miles even agrees to miss Thanksgiving with his family just so he can have the opportunity to spend more time with Alaska. After they all return from Christmas break the three of them set up a pre-prank in which Miles and the Colonel set off fireworks as distraction to lead Mr. Starnes(The dean of the students) away from his house. While Mr. Starnes is distracted Alaska sends false report cards to the weekday warriors house. After the pre-prank is pulled off smoothly Alaska, Miles and the Colonel all celebrate by drinking and playing truth or dare in Alaska's room. During this Miles is dared to kiss Alaska, which he happily agrees to do. The two fall asleep drunk next to each other at the end of the night. Miles falls asleep feeling elated that he finally had the chance to be intimate with a girl he has grown to care so deeply for. In the middle of the night he is suddenly awoken when Alaska gets up to answer a ringing phone in the hallway. When she returns she is distressed and frantic. She tells Colonel and Miles there is something she has to do, and she will need their help to create a diversion so she can leave school without being detected by Mr. Starnes. Miles and the colonel agree to help and set off more fireworks to distract the dean once again while Alaska leaves in a frantic hurry, The next morning there is an unexpected assembly held at school in the auditorium. Miles and the colonel still have no heard from Alaska when the go the assembly. At the assembly as it is revealed that Alaska had in fact died in a car crash last night. Miles and the colonel are both hurt deeply after hearing the news, but Miles is especially devastated. In a shocked state of grief Miles tells the colonel that he has to know how and why she died that night. After weeks of investigation it never becomes apparent if the car crash was an accident or a suicide attempt. At the end of the school year Miles writes a paper for his religion class that pertains to Alaska's death. Writing the paper helps Miles let out his emotions and after finishing it he feels he can let go of the guilt and grief he feels surrounding Alaska's death. He knows she will still be alive in the people who she influenced and he feels grateful he had the chance to grow so close with her before her untimely death. ]]> 2018-06-16 21:05:14 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267464985 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267465686 This was one of my favorite quotes from John green's book Looking for Alaska. :) We hear this quote from the main character Miles when he realizes he has completely and hopelessly fallen in love with Alaska. ]]> 2018-06-16 21:25:47 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267465686 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267485039 Green, J. (2008). Paper Towns 
New York, NY: Dutton Books. 


In the beginning of the book we meet the main characters, Quentin Jacobson and Margo Spiegelman who are both 9 year old kids living in Orlando Florida. While playing in the park one day the both accidentally happen upon a dead body. They find out it was a divorced man who had committed suicide. After this incident happens Margo and Quentin begin to drift apart and eventually cease becoming friends. Then unexpectedly one night, 9 years after the incident in the park, Margo shows up at Quentin's house and sneaks through his window. She tells them that she is in desperate need of his help. She tells him she plans on getting revenge on all the people who have wronged her in high school. She tells him she has eleven specific missions planned to seek revenge and that she cannot do it without his help. Quentin had always thought about Margo and the friendship they had left behind that day at the park and is excited to have the chance to be friends maybe once again. He at first begins to worry of the repercussions of being caught and also being out late on a school night. However, he is intrigued with Margo's plan and eventually gives in and agrees that he will help her with eleven missions. Margo also convinces Quentin to use his Mom's car to take them to complete the missions. Margo then proceeds to take him on numerous adventures, such as breaking into Seaworld and waxing bully at schools eyebrow while he is sleeping. By the time the eleven missions are completed Margo and Quentin have grown much closer. When Quentin returns home that night he cannot stop thinking about Margo and how fascinated he was by her adventurous and fearless spirit. The next day however, Quentin is surprised to find that Margo does not show up for school. Her absence continues for three days straight, making Quentin confused and left with so many unanswered questions. Quentin begins to feel that Margo left him hidden clues and that she wanted him to find her. Quentin rounds up his two best friends, Radar and Ben to help him locate her whereabouts. Quentin deciphers a paper trail that was left by Margo, as well as her highlighted copy of  Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and the three of them embark on a journey to find her. The three eventually locate Margo in a "paper town" called Agloe NY that is not located on a map.  Quentin learns that she has been living in a general store in the town this whole time and that she did not want him to find her. Quentin immediatley becomes upset because of all the work and dedication he put into finding someone who didn't want to be found. Margo tells him she is sorry but also has no intention of going back home, and that she wants to "find herself" first. At the end of the book Quentin realizes that he has to let Margo go. He also comes to term with the fact that he was more in love with his idealization of Margo, rather than her as a person. ]]> 2018-06-17 09:25:49 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267485039 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267585461 Looking For Alaska received both the:
Micheal L. Printz Award in 2006 .
This is the very first award John Green received for his first published novel. John calls this award the "Single most important moment of my entire professional career. In the video I've linked below, John explains how much this award meant to him being as Looking For Alaska was his frist novel, and he had been in the process of writing it for so long. He continues to say that when he received the award he was ironically working as a temp at magazine booklist and he recalled his very first day where he had the job of typing out he speeches that were given at the first Printz award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0pz5g5FP0g

John Green also received another award for Looking for Alaska 3 years later:
Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners Award in 2009.
http://booklists.yalsa.net/directory/results?booklist=27&year=2009&page=2


The Fault In our Stars:
Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Young Adult Fiction in 2012
https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2012

Children's Choice Book Awards: Teen Book of the Year, received in 2013
http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbc-book-lists/2013-finalists/

Paper Towns:
Edgar Award for Best Young Adult novel in 2009
http://theedgars.com/awards/


John Green also named the national award winner of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Best Author Award, here is a clip of him accepting the award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipCdB4ZDADA
John Green was especially proud of receiving this award because of growing up in Indiana. He expressed upon receiving the award that he has always been fond his time spent in Indiana  and felt honored to receive award from a town that felt so close to his heart.


John has also received the
Shorty Awards for best author in both 2011 and 2013. 



]]> 2018-06-18 08:47:19 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267585461 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267590941 Common Sense Media states that the target age range for John Green's work is 14 and up. This would be due to the mature adult themes of love, relationships and heavy topics such as death, grief and guilt in his books. While reading reviews for his books on good reads, I noticed the question of age appropriateness coming up a lot in the comments. Many of the readers suggested that ages 14 and up as well would be a decent target age range. Iv'e also heard his work related to that of a Pg-13 movie. This seems appropriate as most of his film to book adaptions feature a PG-13 rating. I personally believe 14-17 would be a good target age range for John Green's books. I think he does a terrific job at targeting a wide range of readers with his texts, so that many ages can enjoy his books. While there are some adult themes in his books such as complex understandings of love, life, and death, I believe he writes in a way that is quite digest able for younger teens to understand and still take something from. The general age for John Green's main characters are 16-18 years old as well, so I believe teens in that age range will find his books more relatable and relevant to apply to their own lives. ]]> 2018-06-18 09:20:43 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267590941 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267595465 This is a fan art of Hazel Grace, The main character in The Fault in Our Stars. Underneath is a quote that Hazel refers to multiple times throughout the book. ]]> 2018-06-18 09:48:01 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267595465 otblazer https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267678530 Since most of John Green books surround a love story and some type of mystery adventure I would say most teenagers in the target reading age range (14-18) would enjoy the reading mostly for pleasure. Although I also believe his books deal with adult themes that readers can learn from. Because of this, I would consider his books to be about an even split of 50% academic and 50% for pleasure. In The Fault In Our Stars our two main characters are battling cancer, although this may be a heavy topic I believe it is important for readers to gain these perspectives and may help others battling with illness feel validated. I could picture this book being assigned to high schoolers to read because of it's heavy but also intellectual content. Also in his book Turtles All The Way Down, our main character Aza deals with severe OCD and Anxiety, this can also be target for readers in school for it can be a great learning tool to help them learn new perspectives on mental illness and even learn to cope with their own. A New York times article gives credit to both The Fault In Our Stars and Turtles All The Way down for being intellectual stimulating for young adult readers because of the heavy themes presented in these books. "People die and disappear a lot in his books, and his adolescent characters spend a lot of time channeling their inner philosophers, trying to make sense of love and suffering." (Senior, J. 2017)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/books/review-john-green-turtles-all-the-way-down.html
I think these adult themes can be used as an effective learning tool used by teachers in assigning these texts to students. Also in the book Looking For Alaska there are many adult themes such as death,grief, and guilt that could offer readers many new perspectives on these heavy topics. I also think there is a mild sense of humor and in all of is books as well as enthralling story lines that keeps you reading. This can make his books also an aim for readers to read his books purely for pleasure. He also does a great job with taking readers on a journey, and always keeping them on their toes, never knowing where he will take the plot next. ]]> 2018-06-18 19:31:54 UTC https://padlet.com/otblazer/15fzlq0mv5im/wish/267678530