John Green Book Recommendations

Show Way

by Jacqueline Woodson

"One of my all-time favorite picture books." - John Green (Source)

One of Us

by Alice Domurat Dreger

"By far the best nonfiction book ever written about conjoined twins." - John Green (Source)

Round Ireland with a Fridge

by Tony Hawks

"One of the funniest things I've ever read." - John Green (Source)

Anastasia Krupnik (9 books)

"[These] books meant so, so much to me when I was a kid--and still do." - John Green (Source)

Playing the Moldovans at Tennis

by Tony Hawks

"Excellent." - John Green (Source)

The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green

by Joshua Braff

"Great coming of age novel." - John Green (Source)

The Pox Party

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Traitor to the Nation, Book 1

by M.T. Anderson

"One of the best novels of the past decade." - John Green (Source)

Thirsty

by M.T. Anderson

"Surprisingly brilliant vampire novel." - John Green (Source)

Boy Proof

by Cecil Castellucci

"Haunting and beautiful story of this outcast girl." - John Green (Source)

Fly on the Wall

How One Girl Saw Everything

by E. Lockhart

"Brilliant feminist reworking of Kafka's metamorphosis." - John Green (Source)

Leaving Atlanta

by Tayari Jones

"Great." - John Green (Source)

The Untelling

by Tayari Jones

"Captures the precariousness of working-class life." - John Green (Source)

The Golden Rule

by Ilene Cooper

"Has been huge to us in talking to Henry about imagining how other people are feeling." - John Green (Source)

This Bloody Mary Is The Last Thing I Own

by Jonathan Rendall

"My favorite boxing book ever." - John Green (Source)

The Enormous Room

by E. E. Cummings

"I don't know why this isn't famous." - John Green (Source)

Regarding the Pain of Others

by Susan Sontag

"Hugely influential." - John Green (Source)

Death Comes for the Archbishop

by Willa Cather

"Maybe the most important novel about American religion." - John Green (Source)

This Blinding Absence of Light

by Tahar Ben Jelloun

"A little intense, but it's really really good." - John Green (Source)

Tyrell

by Coe Booth

"[The author's] first book." - John Green (Source)

Kendra

by Coe Booth

"[The author's first book] is more famous. I like this one just as much." - John Green (Source)

The Optimist's Daughter

by Eudora Welty

"The best book by one of the best 20th Century writers." - John Green (Source)

Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?

The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music

by Mark Zwonitzer

"Inspired an early vlog brothers video." - John Green (Source)

The Last Summer of Reason

by Tahar Djaout

"About a bookstore owner who lives in a country overtaken by extremists who believe that art is evil." - John Green (Source)

Immune

A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

by Philipp Dettmer

"Fascinating." - John Green (Source)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

by Benjamin Alire Saenz

"Tender and generous to the reader." - John Green (Source)

My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me

A Memoir

by Jason B. Rosenthal

"Captures the true boundlessness of love and the absolute heartbreak of loss." - John Green (Source)

You Are an Artist

Assignments to Spark Creation

by Sarah Urist Green

"Has been a real balm amid the fear, helping me to pay closer attention while making stuff for and with people I love." - John Green (Source)

Why Fish Don't Exist

A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

by Lulu Miller

"I love this book so much." - John Green (Source)

The Cholera Years

The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866

by Charles E. Rosenberg

"Shows how 1832 annd 2020 are not so different." - John Green (Source)

Sula

by Toni Morrison

"[Gets] better every time I read [it]." - John Green (Source)

The General in His Labyrinth

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"[Gets] better every time I read [it]." - John Green (Source)

I Am Still Alive

by Kate Alice Marshall

"I reread to ease my anxiety." - John Green (Source)

Ordinary Beast

Poems

by Nicole Sealey

"I really need poetry right now, like [this] beautiful book." - John Green (Source)

Space Struck

by Paige Lewis

"Gives language to the overwhelming anxiety I'm feeling." - John Green (Source)

The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give, Book 1

by Angie Thomas

"I truly believe will be remembered as a classic of our time." - John Green (Source)

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life

by Benjamin Alire Saenz

"Might be my favorite [book by this author]." - John Green (Source)

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

The Carls, Book 2

by Hank Green

"[The author's] brilliant second novel." - John Green (Source)

We Are Okay

by Nina LaCour

"A poetic meditation on loss that took me right back to those last days of adolescence." - John Green (Source)

Piecing Me Together

by Renée Watson

"Genuinely changed the way I think about the role art plays in human life." - John Green (Source)

Little Fires Everywhere

by Celeste Ng

"Just brilliant." - John Green (Source)

The King Is Always Above the People

Stories

by Daniel Alarcón

"His stories still astonish me with their precision and their power." - John Green (Source)

Calling a Wolf a Wolf

by Kaveh Akbar

"Brilliant." - John Green (Source)

Counting Descent

by Clint Smith

"[To quote the book,] I have always used words to try to convince the world that I am worth something." - John Green (Source)

City of Light, City of Poison

Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris

by Holly Tucker

"A history book that reads like a thriller." - John Green (Source)

City of Thorns

by Ben Rawlence

"Follows a handful of refugees over the course of many years living in Dadaab refugee camp." - John Green (Source)

The Water Will Come

Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World

by Jeff Goodell

"A thriller in which the hero in peril is us." - John Green (Source)

The Man Who Couldn't Stop

OCD and the True Story of a Life Lost in Thought

by David Adam

"A good place to start [to learn more about obsessive-compulsive disorder]." - John Green (Source)