Monday 23 April 2012

A Guide to Vlogbrother Videos for Fans of John's Books


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. 


Looking For Alaska
  • "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. 
    An Abundance of Katherines
    • "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." 
    Paper Towns

      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. 

      The Fault in Our Stars
      • "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

      6 comments:

      1. This is such a fantastic post! I'm going to forward the link on to a friend of mine who was just recently introduced to Green's work. I've loved it for quite awhile (books and vlogs) and have had a chance to hear him speak a few times now. This is such a geat reference for people!

        ReplyDelete
      2. Brilliant post, Emma. I'm going to have to sit down and watch them all over the weekend!

        ReplyDelete
      3. Thank you very much, Emma! I just recently discovered John Green and can't wait to dive into his books, so these videos will go along just perfectly. What a brilliant idea you had to put it all together.

        ReplyDelete
      4. This is very, very convenient for me! In the next month or so I have to prepare a seminar presentations and my topic focuses on Contemporary fiction and, more specifically, John Green's novels and his writing. Thank you so much for posting this, Emma. Now I don't have to go through their many, many videos to find the right info ;)

        ReplyDelete
        Replies
        1. I'm glad I could help- there are A LOT of videos.

          Delete
      5. You rock with this post! I love John and Hank and the clog brothers. I just put a hold on Looking for Alaska, since TFiOS and Papers TOwns we're so great. I LOVE Augustus Waters!

        ReplyDelete

      LinkWithin

      Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...