Looking For Alaska

Looking for Alaska by John Green
Young Adult Realistic/Life Issues Fiction
ISBN: 0-525-47506-0
221 pp.
Suitable for 15+

Readers Annotation: Sixteen-year-old Miles is bored of his life at home and embarks on a journey at boarding school where he meets friends, enemies, sadness, and seeking the "Great Perhaps."

Plot Summary: Sixteen-year-old Miles Halter is bored of his life at home. He asks his parents to go to boarding school to add some excitement to his life and to seek the "Great Perhaps." He meets colorful characters, which end up becoming his friends. This includes his roomate, nicknamed the Colonel, Takumi, Lara, and the one who grabs his heart, Alaska Young. She is funny, clever, and neurotic, shown by her sudden mood swings. She shows Miles, now nicknamed "Pudge," the ropes via school pranks, smoking cigarettes, drinking, and even the "Great Perhaps." She has such an impact on Miles that he starts falling for her even though he eventually gets a girlfriend in Lara. When Alaska has one of her unpredictable "freak-outs," this after spending the day with Miles in what he considered the best day of his life, she decides to drive drunk, crashes, and dies. The rest of the school year is spent trying to figure out what caused Alaska to tick. Meanwhile friendships are tattered, grades are slipping, and Miles spends his time looking for the "Great Perhaps," or in other words, looking for Alaska.

Critical Evaluation: The story is told from first-person perspective of Miles. This is actually a good thing because not only is Miles well-read, which leads to fascinating thinking that is both amazingly clear and concise, but the reader gets to experience what he is feeling. His character evolves from shy boy to the ultimate prankster kind of in the vein of Alaska. Though he and the Colonel become obsessive of her after she dies, it does show the impact that she had on their lives. The author does a good job of having lots of description based on minimalism since Alaska was not too open with her personal life. The nice touch of days before and after her death show much they thought of her. But you can even see the characters evolving into Alaska right down to the last prank; Alaska was hot and cold and the characters evolve into that too, thinking just like her to not only solve the mystery of her motives before she died but to almost relive her life in a way. The dialogue is refreshing and real and it oozes emotion, sometimes happiness and sometimes sadness, just like Alaska. This shows how much one person can impact another while also showing how fragile the one-track teenaged mind can be.

Author: John Green was born in 1977 and his stay in boarding school largely inspired his debut-novel Looking for Alaska. After he graduated, he worked in Chicago for Booklist Magazine. His debut novel was published in 2005 and won the Michael L. Printz award. His second and third novels, entitled An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns, were published in 2006 and 2008 to great critical praise and awards.

Green currently resides in Indiana with his wife, Sarah, his son Henry, and his dog. Sarah and him had their first child together just recently. Just recently, Green announced that he is working on a fourth novel, entitled The Sequel.

Booktalking Ideas:
1) Drinking
2) Suicide
3) School
4) Death
5) Sex
6) Friendship

Challenge Issues: Due to the mentions of sex, language, death, and potential suicide, the book has a few challenge issues.

A librarian should state that the ALA mission is "to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all," which is embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association's basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials. Librarians must act as an extension, making sure that they educate the general public, and themselves, about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries.

Why Included: I just recently heard about this book because I've been wanting to get more into realistic fiction. I discovered it, read it, and ultimately love it.