'Paper Towns' Author John Green Champions Teens, Says 'They Give A S---'

John Green is something of a teen phenomenon, except for the part about being a teen. He’s a successful author, YouTube star (with his brother Hank) and a sensation on Reddit. And, on Friday, the movie adaptation of his 2009 young adult novel "Paper Towns" will be released.

This is the second movie based on a Green book. The first, 2014's "The Fault in Our Stars," grossed $124.8 million domestically and $307.2 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Green recently signed a deal with Fox that will likely lead to more films.

Green -- who has been nicknamed the "Teen Whisperer" due to his success with young readers -- has emerged as a champion of the teen cause. While teens are often criticized for their taste in music, movies and books, Green, 37, has argued against that view. Instead, he thinks teens are curious and eager to learn -- and isn't afraid to say it.

In anticipation of "Paper Towns," we scoured the Internet to find some of the best comments and responses Green has offered up on teens and teenage culture.

On "Morning Joe," Green attributed his success to taking teens seriously. "I don’t know anything about being a teenager and I didn't know anything about being a teenager when I was a teenager," Green told the panel. "I just try to take them seriously. I just try to listen to them."

He reiterated that point in a Reddit Ask Me Anything from April 17. Green said, "For reasons I don't really understand, I think a lot of teenagers feel this intense need to hurt themselves, and I did that by smoking."

Still, it's the new experiences of being a teenager that Green enjoys.

I like teenagers because they're experiencing so much stuff for the first time -- love and loss and grief and individual sovereignty and driving cars and, in the case of nonredditors, sex. Because those experiences are new, they are extremely intense, and it allows me to think about that stuff in a heightened way that doesn't need to be cut by irony, which is really appealing to me.

In a earlier Ask Me Anything, on May 29, 2014, Green told a user that he liked writing for teens because they are authentic and they care. "Teenagers give a s---," he wrote. "They are unironically enthusiastic, and they look at big questions about meaning and suffering and responsibility directly and without embarrassment."

On several different forums, Green also has argued that teens are curious and excited to learn. "I'm tired of adults telling teenagers that they aren't smart, that they can't read critically, that they aren't thoughtful ...," he told the Guardian.

This is a position he reiterated on to CBS. "Yes, they are learning in different ways, but they are still learning," Green told "CBS Sunday Morning." "They are still reading. They are still thoughtful. And I am inspired every day by their intellectual curiosity."

Teen tastes are something Green also admires, according to his Ask Me Anything responses. "One of the things I really like about teenagers is that they don't draw a bright line between high culture and low culture," he wrote. "They're comfortable liking what they like, and don't see anything incongruous about loving 'America's Next Top Model' and Emily Dickinson."

In an Ask Me Anything from June 25, Green said he thought the best recent novels have been written for teens.

I'd argue that several of the most interesting novels of the past 15 years have been published for teenagers. "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing," for instance, was worthy of the Pulitzer Prize most any year out of the last 10 and stands alongside books like "The Good Lord Bird" and "Wolf Hall" as the greatest historical fiction of the 21st century.

Green just seems to get teens. And, as he told BuzzFeed, "Teenagers may not have as much financial or political power but they are tremendously passionate and intellectually curious and desperate to see the world change for the better."

Through Green's novels, videos and online causes -- such as Nerdfighters -- he is clearly helping teens in their fight.