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Green, J., & Levithan, D. (2010). Will Grayson, Will Grayson. New York, NY: Speak. ISBN: 978-0-14-241847-5.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Grade Level: 8-up
Honors: ALA Stonewall Honor Book, New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
Summary: This book details the lives of two people named Will Grayson living in Chicago. They happen to meet unexpectedly and their lives begin to intertwine. The novel is told through the use of two distinct voices written by two separate authors. John Green writes the odd numbered chapters about a Will Grayson who is a heterosexual, masculine athlete. David Levithan writes the even numbered chapters about a Will Grayson who is a homosexual introvert. Together the two characters, along with a friend, Tiny, learn about themselves and their place in the world. The inclusion of the LGBTQ community makes it a good read for modern classrooms, although there is strong language throughout the book, making it more appropriate for older students.
Activity: This book is told with alternating chapters written by different authors. It is possible to see the distinct differences as John Green writes in all correct capitalization and David Levithan writes in all lowercase. This creates two separate voices throughout the work and is an interesting topic to cover in a literature course. To experiment with voice, students should create a weblog together. One student (or teacher) should start the weblog writing a short creative piece (500 words minimum) and another student should continue to write the story, or incorporate another character’s point of view into their work. The whole class should do this, and then the class can read the completed work and see if they can hear the narrative voices used by each writer.
Original Activity by Ellen Bryce
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Grade Level: 8-up
Honors: ALA Stonewall Honor Book, New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
Summary: This book details the lives of two people named Will Grayson living in Chicago. They happen to meet unexpectedly and their lives begin to intertwine. The novel is told through the use of two distinct voices written by two separate authors. John Green writes the odd numbered chapters about a Will Grayson who is a heterosexual, masculine athlete. David Levithan writes the even numbered chapters about a Will Grayson who is a homosexual introvert. Together the two characters, along with a friend, Tiny, learn about themselves and their place in the world. The inclusion of the LGBTQ community makes it a good read for modern classrooms, although there is strong language throughout the book, making it more appropriate for older students.
Activity: This book is told with alternating chapters written by different authors. It is possible to see the distinct differences as John Green writes in all correct capitalization and David Levithan writes in all lowercase. This creates two separate voices throughout the work and is an interesting topic to cover in a literature course. To experiment with voice, students should create a weblog together. One student (or teacher) should start the weblog writing a short creative piece (500 words minimum) and another student should continue to write the story, or incorporate another character’s point of view into their work. The whole class should do this, and then the class can read the completed work and see if they can hear the narrative voices used by each writer.
Original Activity by Ellen Bryce