Module 5: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Book cover image: 

Book Summary: Miles Halter lives a boring high school life with no friends and no purpose. Searching for his “Great perhaps,” he decides to enroll in a prestigious boarding school in Alabama. There, he meets the wild and intelligent Alaska among his new circle of friends. Life seems great. Miles, or “Pudge,” opens up, tries new things, enjoys discussing religion and famous last words, and becomes a prankster. His great new life changes when Alaska suddenly gets in a car accident, and Miles and their group are desperate to find answers.

APA Reference of Book:  Green, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska: A novel. New York, NY: Dutton Children's Books.

Impressions: This book is incredibly powerful. I love all the “last words” that Miles quotes. I love the realistically sarcastic dialogue. Most of all, I love how this book makes me think. What is the “Great perhaps” for me? How do people get out of the labyrinth of suffering? The novel was written well and can definitely be used as a mini-mystery as the reader follows the foreshadowed clues to figure out what happened to Alaska. This story is so grippingly real.

Professional Review: Looking for Alaska. (January, 2015). School Library Journal, 61(1).

Gr 10 Up-The Printz Award-winning novel that kickstarted John Green's career and introduced a whole generation of teens to a new era of YA literature is turning 10 this year. Though the text itself remains the same, there are many extras included in this edition. There is an introduction by Green himself, a helpful Q & A section, and, perhaps most interesting for scholars, portions of the original manuscript that didn't make it into the final book, along with correspondence between Green and his editor. Purists may gasp to hear that the now-iconic "smoking" cover has been redesigned. But take heart; the new jacket, created by Rodrigo Corral, pays homage to the original with a deep black background and a subtle wisp of smoke. Replace worn copies and introduce a whole new crop of teens to this new classic. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.

Library Uses: Have high school students write a personal literary analysis based around Alaska’s great question: “How will you personally ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” Answer the question based on your personal experiences and thoughts and include any quotations or examples from the text that help support your writing.