The Fault in Our Stars by John Green This book is about a character Hazel, who is a 16 year old female suffering from stage three cancer and depression. She falls in love with cancer survivor Augustus, upon meeting him at a support meeting. Inspired by a piece of literature, the two adventure to Amsterdam in search of its author.As a teacher, this novel would be an effective tool to discuss and explore themes such as life, love, health, and death with sensitivity, intelligence, honesty, and integrity. It would be important to approach this novel with sensitivity and awareness for adolescents who have experienced cancer through family members, friends, etc. With this sensitivity in mind, the book offers an opportunity to focus on character development. For example, students could explore how the characters relate to their cancer. Are they defined by it? How do they confront big questions of life and death? Do either of them conform, in behavior or thinking, to what we normally associate with young cancer patients? Students could also focus on how the characters change throughout the novel.An activity to use in this book would be exploring its relationship to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." (I,ii,139-140). Students could consider what this line means, and why Green would choose it as his title. Extending this further, why would he have altered it to read, "The fault in our stars" rather than ourselves? Students could then compare the meaning between Shakespeare and Green’s work.When considering the use of this book across content areas, it could be incorporated into science, health, and social studies lessons. Students could explore the science and health behind cancer and its impact on health and mental well being. Additionally, the students could make personal connections to the text by thinking about how they would react to some of the situations in the story if it happened to them. The could consider the difference between realism and narrative throughout the story and think critically about if this could really happen or not.
This book is about a character Hazel, who is a 16 year old female suffering from stage three cancer and depression. She falls in love with cancer survivor Augustus, upon meeting him at a support meeting. Inspired by a piece of literature, the two adventure to Amsterdam in search of its author.As a teacher, this novel would be an effective tool to discuss and explore themes such as life, love, health, and death with sensitivity, intelligence, honesty, and integrity. It would be important to approach this novel with sensitivity and awareness for adolescents who have experienced cancer through family members, friends, etc. With this sensitivity in mind, the book offers an opportunity to focus on character development. For example, students could explore how the characters relate to their cancer. Are they defined by it? How do they confront big questions of life and death? Do either of them conform, in behavior or thinking, to what we normally associate with young cancer patients? Students could also focus on how the characters change throughout the novel.An activity to use in this book would be exploring its relationship to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." (I,ii,139-140). Students could consider what this line means, and why Green would choose it as his title. Extending this further, why would he have altered it to read, "The fault in our stars" rather than ourselves? Students could then compare the meaning between Shakespeare and Green’s work.When considering the use of this book across content areas, it could be incorporated into science, health, and social studies lessons. Students could explore the science and health behind cancer and its impact on health and mental well being. Additionally, the students could make personal connections to the text by thinking about how they would react to some of the situations in the story if it happened to them. The could consider the difference between realism and narrative throughout the story and think critically about if this could really happen or not.