John Green is the author of a number of successful novels for teens, including Looking For Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars. John is also one half of the Vlogbrothers; he and his brother Hank Green make youtube videos that formed the Nerdfighter community. This post is your quick guide to Vlogbrothers videos that discuss any of John Green's novels. While there are many great videos made my John and Hank that are not related to John's books, this list is for anyone who would like some more background information about Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, Will Grayson, Will Grayson and The Fault in Our Stars. There are five years worth of videos, so feel free to leave the URL of any videos I missed so I can add them to the list. While some of these videos you could watch before reading the books (such as John reading from the first chapters,) most of them will be best enjoyed after you finish reading.
- "I Am Not A Pornographer" John talks about English classes reading his book and how a controversial scene in Looking For Alaska lead to it being called pornography. Some people believed that Looking For Alaska was pornographic and would have a negative affect on teen readers. John talks about his thoughts on these allegations and how Looking For Alaska is not porn.
- "Famous Last Words" John quickly shares the 50 last words of famous (and deceased) individuals. While this video isn't directly related to Looking For Alaska, famous last words played a large role in the book.
- "Foreign John Green Books and the Ultimate Concern" I really wanted to include this video, even though it doesn't talk about the books as in depth as other videos do. But it does show a number of foreign copies of John's books, and features him discussing how something Sarah told him on their first date made it into Looking For Alaska.
- "Looking for Alaska at my High School" In this Thoughts From Places video, John returns to his old high school in Birmingham Alabama, which is pretty much identical to the school Miles attends in Looking for Alaska. This video shows various places featured in the book, even showing the swan.
- "Looking for Alaska Five Years After the Printz Award" Nearly five years after Looking For Alaska won the Printz Award, John discusses the story behind the book and describes how writing a book cannot be done by one person alone.
- "Quotations (And Holden Hats)" John discusses the quotation "What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable" and how it is often miscontextualized. One of the quotes I often see quoted from John originates from this video: "Maybe our favourite quotations say more about us than the stories and people we're quoting."
- "Brotherhood 2.0: March 19th: Urban Exploration" John goes urban exploring in Detroit with M.T. Anderson and a guide. Urban exploration played a role in Paper Towns.
- "September 12th: Paper Towns, Part 1" and "September 14th: Paper Towns, Part 2" John reads from the prologue of the rough draft of Paper Towns.
- "Paper Towns Reading" John reads from the prologue of Paper Towns. You can see a video of him reading from the unrevised version above.
- "Paper Towns Tastic Question Tuesday" John answers real questions from real nerdfighters about Paper Towns.
- "Paper Towns and Puppy" John answers some questions about Paper Towns, including why he loves roadtrips and whether he was rushed when writing the end of the book.
- "Where's Margo? A Nerdfighter Event" Finally a video featuring Hank! Hank sings about Margo (called "Where's Margo.") Nerdfighters from all around the world and their copies of Paper Towns appear in this video.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson
- "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" John reads from the first chapter of his new book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which he cowrote with David Levithan. Will Grayson, Will Grayson is about two teenage boys named Will Grayson who meet by chance in Chicago. As Levithan's Will struggles with coming out and having his heart broken, Green's Will does his best to never have his heartbroken by not letting himself care about anyone or anything.
- "Men Running on Tanks and the Truth About Book Editors" John talks about the editorial process involved in specifically The Fault in Our Stars, while mentioning his other books as well.
- "THE FAULT IN OUR STARS" For the first time, John announces the title of his newest book, The Fault In Our Stars. The title was suggested by a nerdfighter, and references a line from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
- "Reading Chapter One of The Fault In Our Stars" In this (long) live show video, John reads the first chapter of The Fault In Our Stars.
- "The Fault In Our Stars" It's Question Tuesday and The Fault In Our Stars is finally available in most countries. John answers questions about his newest book before leaving for the tour.
- "TFiOS Party!" Hank talks about how proud he is of John for writing The Fault In Our Stars. Video clips of excited nerdfighters are also shown.
- "Wrong But Right: Thoughts from Places Amsterdam" It was after watching this video that I was inspired to write this list. John has gone back to Amsterdam to celebrate the release of The Fault In Our Stars in the Netherlands, and talks about Hazel being wrong but right while showing key places from the book and where he wrote it.
- "Video Game Books" This video was not done by the Vlogbrothers (but by Marldance) but features Hank playing "Video Game Books" at Tour De Nerdfighting New York (I was there.) The song is from Hazel's perspective about Augustus and his favourite book.
On Writing
- "Brotherhood 2.0: April 2: A Day in the Writer's Life" With his writing group, John shares the very exciting life of a writer. His writing group includes Justine Larbalestier, Maureen Johnson, Lauren McLaughlin, and Scott Westerfeld.
- "July 19: A Day in the Life of a Writer (Who Has No Friends)" John talks about his daily life as a writer, now that he no longer lives in New York. This video also mentions Paper Towns, since John reads from the book he was writing at the time.
- "Nov. 26th: Writing Advice (And Notes of Surnameless Tiffany)" Looking at stories he wrote in his elementary school days, John gives some tips for aspiring writers.
- "NaNoWriMo!!!" John talks about how he is attempting National November Writing Month, in which writers everywhere attempt to write a 50,000 word first draft in a month. He also talks about how all the best things in his book came from the revisions.
- "Writing as a Profession" What's this? A Vlogbrothers video not made by John or Hank? Maureen Johnson is filling in for John and talks about writing, deadlines and writing as a career.
- "Becoming a Writer: The Miracle of Swindon Town #32" John talks about the beginning of his writing career while playing FIFA.