John Green: This Season’s Must-Read Author

Looking for Alaska
When Miles Halter leaves his “minor life” behind to attend boarding school in Alabama, it’s with the intention of seeking, in the famous last words of poet François Rabelais, “the Great Perhaps.” What he finds is Alaska Young. She’s funny, beautiful, smart. She’s also damaged, elusive, and prone to self-destruction. On his way to falling in love with Alaska, Miles comes under the benign sway of his hardheaded roommate, the Colonel; takes part in a prank war between the Colonel’s gang and the school’s arrogant rich kid faction; and collects more famous last words to live by. The book is told as a countdown to an unknown event, ratcheting up the tension from page one (“one hundred thirty-six days before”), then counting back upward on the other side of an occurrence that will rock Miles’ world.

An Abundance of Katherines
Former child prodigy Colin Singleton is always the one getting dumped—and each and every time, it’s by a girl named Katherine. His Katherine obsession (or is it fate?) started at a tender age, but it’s only Katherine #19 who really manages to break his heart. He hits the road with his best friend, Hassan, in an effort to leave all his Katherine troubles behind, and ends up waylaid by a curious tourist trap in the tiny town of Gutshot, Tennessee: the alleged resting place of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Colin and Hassan get jobs in Gutshot as collectors of residents’ oral history, and Colin’s Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability is tested by a Gutshot girl named Lindsey, who just might break the Katherine curse.

Paper Towns
When dreamy girl next door Margo Roth Spiegelman shows up at his bedroom window late one night, Quentin’s sure everything’s about to change. The two embark on a moonlit revenge mission, leaving dead fish and Zorro-like Ms for Margo’s high school enemies to find, before sneaking back into their bedrooms after dawn. Quentin’s ecstatic…but then Margo doesn’t show up for school. Soon after her parents report her missing, Quention becomes convinced Margo’s left a trail of clues leading to her whereabouts, and that she might be in danger. Armed only with a hunch, he and his friends race across the country to find her, never considering the fact that Margo may not want to be found.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Written by Green in collaboration with fellow YA superstar David Levithan, this is a story told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of its two titular characters, both midwestern teens named Will Grayson. Green’s Will is a smart and funny geek with a gay drama-queen BFF, Tiny, and a secret crush on his friend Jane. Levithan’s Will is a closeted teenaged grouch whose friend Maura and internet relationship with a boy named TK are the only things he gets up for in the morning. When the two run into each other in a porn store one cold Chicago night, it changes the trajectory of their lives. Hold on for a bravura ending that will leave you grinning.

The Fault in Our Stars
This is the YA juggernaut that launched a thousand public ugly cries, as well as a hit movie. But behind the celebrity casting and the awards and the best-seller status is the story, a clear-eyed, brimming-hearted romance between two teenagers who’ve been dealt a bad hand by fate. Sixteen-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster’s terminal cancer has metastasized to her lungs, leaving her largely homebound between hospital visits and support group meetings. It’s at her support group that she meets charming, hyper-articulate Augustus Waters, whose cancer is in remission after the amputation of his leg below the knee. The two fall for each other the old-fashioned way: by swapping their favorite books. This beginning leads first to love, then to Amsterdam, where they track down the reclusive author of Hazel’s favorite novel, determined to find out what happens after its abrupt final page. Every twist in their love story is colored by illness and the fact that they can’t have forever—but what Green does with the book’s “little infinity” will astound you.

John Green Box Set
For the John Green completist, this box set combines his four solo titles, from debut Looking for Alaska to most recent bestseller The Fault in Our Stars. We recommend pairing this gift with a box of Kleenex, a pillow to hug, and a journal, because reading all Green’s books in one go might cause an excess of feels.

Let It Snow
In Let It Snow, Green joins forces with fellow YA superstars Lauren Myracle and Maureen Johnson to tell a trio of interconnected holiday love stories. It works as both a super sweet, super funny gift for any romance lover, and a gateway to the work of all three writers, all wrapped up in one festive paperback package.
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