Genre 6: Fiction, Fantasy & Young Adult: LOOKING FOR ALASKA

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Green, John. 2005. LOOKING FOR ALASKA. New York, NY: Dutton Books. ISBN: 0525475060

PLOT SUMMARY
This young adult fiction book is the story of Miles Halter as he begins boarding school. He meets several people along the way who change his life. The story begins with Miles leaving his parents and going off to boarding school. Boarding school is his choice since he is unhappy with his life at his current school. This is also the school that his father attended. He is also on a quest to find his “Great Perhaps”. He makes new and interesting friends at this school. His new roommate is Chip, who is super intelligent, but also an extreme prankster. He comes from a poor background. Chip is already friends with a girl called Alaska, and the three of them become good friends. Miles is nick named Pudge, and the story revolves around the interactions of these three main characters. The main plot of the story is told through the thoughts of Pudge. We have a foreboding that something bad is about to happen throughout the book because of the Chapter Titles. Chapter 1 –One hundred thirty six days before, and the book is divided into two parts, before and after. The whole book moves toward the life changing event of one of the main characters.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book could be considered young adult literature and contemporary realistic fiction. It is set in the present time, it could really happen, and it is a work of fiction created by the author. The book deals with the very real issues that adolescents are dealing with such as acceptance, drugs, alcohol and death. This young adult fiction story is very intriguing and somewhat mysterious. The author does well with character development. We know a lot about the main character from the beginning of the story, and the whole story is told through his eyes. The other characters are developed slowly through their interactions with the main character of Pudge. The daily lives of the characters are seen through Pudge’s perspective on things. The dialog is believable and contemporary. The characters seem real and endearing. The plot moves along nicely with the friendship between the characters being believable. The consequences of alcohol abuse are written into the story, but in a realistic way that is not preachy. The tragedy of the story occurs when an intoxicated Alaska dies in a car accident. The author then takes us through the characters recovery of the loss. The ending is well done and we see that even though these young people have experienced a tragedy that they will continue to go on. Most importantly we see that Pudge has not given up on his search for his “Great Perhaps”. It was a very good book that I think many young adults would also like to read.


REVIEW EXCERPTS
From School Library Journal
"Grade 9 Up—From the very first page, tension fills John Green's Michael L. Printz Award-winning novel (Dutton, 2005). Miles Halter, 16, is afraid that nobody will show up at his party because he doesn't have many friends. He loves to read biographies and discover the last words attributed to famous people. He's particularly intrigued with the dying words of poet Francois Rabelais: "I go to seek a great perhaps." Miles is leaving his loving Florida home for the "great perhaps" of the same Alabama boarding school attended by his father. Ominous chapter headings (40 days before, 10 days after) reveal that something tragic may happen."

From The Horn Book
Review Excerpt: Title: Looking for Alaska[2005; Green, John; Dutton Books]
"Miles and his friends investigate Alaska's crash, question the possibility that it could have been suicide, and acknowledge their own survivor guilt. The narrative concludes with an essay Miles writes about this event for his religion class--an unusually heavy-handed note in an otherwise mature novel, peopled with intelligent characters who talk smart, yet don't always behave that way, and are thus notably complex and realistically portrayed teenagers."


CONNECTIONS
Book discussion of the tough subjects in the book such as alcohol and death
Write a different ending to the book