The Fault in Our Stars Study Guide

John Green was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Immediately after his birth, Green’s parents moved to Orlando, Florida. During his youth, he attended Indian Springs School, a boarding school near Birmingham, Alabama. Later, he attended Kenyon College where he graduated in 2000 with a double major in English and Religious Studies. After graduating from Kenyon, Green worked in a children’s hospital while he enrolled in divinity school with the intention of becoming an Episcopal Priest. He never attended divinity school, however, because his experience working in the hospital with children suffering from life-threatening illnesses inspired him to become a writer. He lived in Chicago for several years, writing book reviews, writing for radio, and working in publishing. During this time he wrote his first novel, Looking for Alaska (2005) to immediate, and increasing, success. He followed that first novel with An Abundance of Katherines (2006), Paper Towns (2008), and The Fault in Our Stars (2012), which reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for children. Green currently lives in Indianapolis with his wife and two kids, where he continues to write, produce videos, and speak publicly about an array of topics.

As a piece of young adult fiction that deals with illness, death and dying, The Fault in Our Stars joins a number of other books that deal with similar issues including, Before I Die by Jennie Downham, My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, and A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks. The Fault in Our Stars is about more than just dying of cancer—it's a story about coming of age. In this way, Green’s novel can be placed among other classic coming of age novels, such as The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, as well as more recent coming of age novels, such as The Perks of Being a Wall Flower by Stephen Chbosky and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.