Educator and Discussion Resources
Go deeper with Out of Blue Comes Green.
Out of Blue Comes Green is a YA novel about identity, authenticity, friendship, family, masculinity, and what it means to be truly seen. These free reader and discussion guides invite teens and adults to look more closely at Kinkade’s experiences as a trans teen and to use his story as a starting point for conversations about their own lives and the people around them.
Created by author and high school English teacher M. E. Corey, these resources are designed for high school classrooms, libraries, book clubs, LGBTQ+ youth groups, community organizations, and other readers who want to explore the novel beyond its final page.
Instead of answering questions, they invite readers to notice, question, reconsider, and talk.
Finding Green
A Companion to Out of Blue Comes Green
What does it mean to know yourself? What happens when other people don’t see you how you are? How well can we ever know another person?
“Finding Green” is a free reader’s companion and discussion guide that explores identity, authenticity, empathy, perspective-taking, and hope through Kinkade’s experiences in Out of Blue Comes Green.
Moving through six sections—Seeing Yourself, Being Yourself, Being Seen, Seeing Others, Finding Hope, and Becoming Green—the guide asks readers to return to key moments from the novel and consider what those moments might reveal.
Rather than telling readers what the book means, “Finding Green” creates room for them to think about questions such as:
• What allows us to feel like our authentic selves?
• What does it mean to be seen and accepted by another person?
• How can we believe we know someone well yet still have more to learn?
• What might change when we leave space for what we haven’t seen yet?
The guide can be used for individual reflection or as a YA novel discussion guide in high school English classes, school and public libraries, book clubs, LGBTQ+ youth groups, and community conversations.
Discussion leaders can move through the entire companion question by question or select individual sections and questions that fit their readers.
What Kind of a Man Are You?
A Guided Conversation About Masculinity, Identity, and Being Yourself
Are there a thousand ways to be a man, or does society decide who meets the right criteria?
Throughout Out of Blue Comes Green, Kinkade has ideas about what a man is supposed to be.
Some of those ideas come from friends and family. Some come from society. And some Kinkade has absorbed so deeply that he hardly stops to question them.
“What Kind of a Man Are You?” is a free discussion guide that uses Kinkade’s story to explore masculinity, gender expectations, authenticity, confidence, vulnerability, and the difference between putting on a performance and being the person you are meant to be.
The guide invites readers to consider questions such as:
• Where do our ideas about masculinity come from?
• Why might someone feel pressure to prove an identity they already know is theirs?
• Which people in Kinkade’s life offer him different models of masculinity?
• How does Kinkade’s understanding of being a man change as he becomes more comfortable being himself?
Although the conversation begins with a transgender teenage boy, its central questions are much broader. This resource can support discussions for trans men but also for anyone looking to discuss healthy masculinity, gender roles, social expectations, coming of age, identity, and authenticity with teens and adults of many identities and experiences.
It can be used in high school English or humanities classes, libraries, book clubs, LGBTQ+ youth programs, community groups, or other settings where readers are ready to think more deeply about what we ask of boys and men and what might become possible when we make room for multiple ways to be masculine.
Left/First: Preview of “Finding Green”
Click the preview to enlarge.
Right/Third: Preview of “What Kind of Man Are You?”
Click the preview to enlarge.
Start the Conversation
A novel lets us experience the world through someone else’s perspective. A conversation about the novel allows us to interpret through our own.
Whether you’re a teacher planning a class discussion, a librarian leading a teen book club, a group leader creating space for conversations about identity, or simply a reader who wants to spend more time with questions about Out of Blue Comes Green, you’re welcome to use these resources.
There are no prescribed answers. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is leave space for what we haven’t seen or considered yet.