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Teaching The Fault in Our Stars

A faultless teaching resource.

  • Activities: 13
  • Quiz Questions: 119

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We're sure you're familiar with the John Green and The Fault in Our Stars hype: he loves her, she loves him, they both have cancer, and the tears flow bountifully. But there's so much more to this novel than the inevitable gush of weeping that is the ending: there's rich characters, powerful writing, and highbrow allusions falling from the Indianapolis sky. Your students will love you for teaching it—even when they feel a little manipulated by all the rampant feels.

In this guide, you'll find

  • student-led analysis of some of those allusions we just mentioned. (Sword of who? Damocles?)
  • a kinesthetic study of themes.
  • pop culture resources like whoa—we don't know if you've heard, but this book is a pretty big deal.

Kleenex not included.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13 – 18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students
  • A note from Shmoop's teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles

Want more help teaching Teaching The Fault in Our Stars?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: This book is like a scarf with several bold colors woven throughout, bold colors like "Love," "Friendship," "Pain," and "Life." No big deal.

If you haven't already discussed the themes in this book, now's the perfect time to do so. After finishing the book and having an undoubtedly deep and complex discussion about it, the students will choose one of those themes and create a project to show how it's threaded throughout the story. Expect to take about four class periods or four hours on this activity. (Pro tip: it's a good idea to do this activity before "It's All in the Details.")

Materials Needed: A copy of the text and/or our summary page

Step 1: Before anything, get a discussion started on themes and encourage your students to take notes in their notebooks:

  • What does "theme" mean?
  • How do you figure out what the theme is?
  • What are some themes in this book? (Jot these on the board for later.) Here are some suggestions if you need them:
    • The relationship between author and reader (or between fiction and the reader)
    • Purpose of life
    • Coping with pain or suffering (your own or a loved one's)
    • Even more themes
  • Let's choose one of them and talk about how it shows up in the story. (This is the example for what their projects will include. Whatever theme you use in class won't be up for grabs for their own projects.)
    • Where does it first show up?
      • i.e. The author/reader theme starts before the story even begins with the Author's Note.
    • What are some things from the story that relate to this theme? How do these examples relate to and add to the theme?
      • i.e. the Author's Note, Hazel's quest for the end to AIA, the relationship between Hazel and Peter Van Houten, most of what Van Houten says
    • What are some possible interpretations of this theme?
      • i.e. Authors write and readers interpret, authors aren't responsible for the stories once they're published, or fiction is just as important as real life

Step 2: Now that that's over, you'll explain the project idea, including their deadline. Basically, the students will each create some kind of project to show how a particular theme plays out in the book. You can let them get creative with their projects, so they could write a poem, paint, sing...you get the gist. No matter what, the project needs to:

  • Contain words and visuals (multimedia, whut whut)
  • State the theme they're exploring
  • Use specific examples (quoted or paraphrased) from the book
  • Explain how the examples show the thread of the theme throughout
  • Give possible interpretations of the theme
  • Take about three minutes to present

Step 3: Time for a little show-and-tell. Get everyone back together in class and have them present their project (fingers crossed someone picked an original song).

Instructions for Your Students

This book is like a scarf with several bold colors woven throughout, bold colors like "Love," "Friendship," "Pain," and "Life." No big deal.

If you haven't already discussed the themes in this book, now's the perfect time to do so. After an undoubtedly deep and complex discussion, you'll choose one of those themes and create a project to show how it's threaded throughout the story. Ready?

Step 1: Your teacher will get a discussion going on themes.

  • What does "theme" mean?
  • How do you figure out what the theme is?
  • What are some themes in this book? (Jot these on the board for later.) Here are some suggestions if you need them:
    • The relationship between author and reader (or between fiction and the reader)
    • Purpose of life
    • Coping with pain or suffering (your own or a loved one's)
    • Even more themes
  • Let's choose one of them and talk about how it shows up in the story. (Whatever theme you use in class won't be up for grabs for your projects.)
    • Where does it first show up?
      • i.e. The author/reader theme starts before the story even begins with the Author's Note.
    • What are some things from the story that relate to this theme? How do these examples relate to and add to the theme?
      • i.e. the Author's Note, Hazel's quest for the end to AIA, the relationship between Hazel and Peter Van Houten, most of what Van Houten says
    • What are some possible interpretations of this theme?
      • i.e. Authors write and readers interpret, authors aren't responsible for the stories once they're published, or fiction is just as important as real life

Step 2: Your teacher will explain the project. Basically, you'll create a project to show how the particular theme you've chosen plays out in the book. You can get creative with your project; the sky's the limit, so you could write a poem, paint, sing...you get the gist. No matter what, the project needs to:

  • Contain words and visuals (multimedia, whut whut)
  • State the theme you're exploring
  • Use specific examples (quoted or paraphrased) from the book
  • Explain how the examples show the thread of the theme throughout
  • Give possible interpretations of the theme
  • Take about three minutes to present

Step 3: All done? Get ready for a little show-and-tell.