Looking for Alaska

Award-winning novel of life and death at boarding school. For teens.

Author: John Green Pages: 221 Publisher: Dutton Children's Books Published Date: 02/05/2006 Genre: Fiction - Friendship HC Price: $15.99 Publisher's Recommended Reading Level: 14-up Read Aloud: 15 Read Alone: 15 Awards: Michael L. Printz Award

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this book hits all the controversial pulse points: drinking, (not graphic) sex, bad language, and smoking, including marijuana smoking.

Families who read this book could discuss the questions that Miles and his friends think about and discuss: How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering? What happens to us when we die? Also, there is a central mystery in the second half of the book that is never fully resolved, which could prompt debate.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Matt Berman

Here's why, despite the plethora of problematic content mentioned up there in the Content Advisories, this book richly deserves the awards it has won:
1. It's just plain-old gorgeously written -- passionate, hilarious, moving, thought-provoking, character-driven, with solid values (though, granted, it would be nice if every single teen in it wasn't constantly puffing away like little nicotine fiends -- have we really not gotten past that as a way of showing cool?).
2. Unlike most books of this type, every single adult in it is warm, caring, and intelligent: the parents, the teachers, the local cop -- even the requisite rigid disciplinarian who enforces the rules at school is not clueless, has a sense of humor, and cares deeply about the students.
3. The characters are vividly real, complex, and beautifully drawn. Miles, the narrator, is painfully truthful, sardonic, yet sweetly naive. The Colonel is the kind of friend who understands friendship, and the ins and outs of high-school society. And Alaska is just hilariously charming -- the reader will be almost as in love with her as most of the characters are.

For a novel with very little actual plot, this is a hard one to put down. Since new chapters don't start on a new page, there's always a temptation to read just a little bit further and, for the first half at least, you'll do so grinning all the way.

From The Book

"Okay, Mr. Famous Last Words Boy. I have one for you." She reached into her overstuffed backpack and pulled out a book. "Gabriel García Márquez. The General in His Labyrinth. Absolutely one of my favorites. It's about Simón Bolívar." I didn't know who Simón Bolívar was, but she didn't give me time to ask. "It's a historical novel, so I don't know if this is true, but in the book, do you know what his last words are? No, you don't. But I am about to tell you, Señor Parting Remarks."

And then she lit a cigarette and sucked on it so hard for so long that I thought the entire thing might burn off in one drag. She exhaled and read to me:

"'He'--that's Simón Bolívar--'was shaken by the overwhelming revelation that the headlong race between his misfortunes and his dreams was at that moment reaching the finish line. The rest was darkness. "Damn it," he sighed. "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!"'"

Plot Summary:

Miles, tired of his friendless, dull life in Florida, convinces his parents to send him away to boarding school in Alabama so that he can seek "the Great Perhaps." There he meets his roommate and soon-to-be best friend, Chip, called the Colonel, and Alaska Young, the moody, gorgeous, wild girl who instantly becomes the object of his lust. Miles is quickly enlisted in their war against the Weekday Warriors, the rich kids who go home every weekend, and they bond over elaborate pranks, studying, and assorted rule-breaking.

About halfway through the book a tragedy occurs, and those left spend the rest of the book trying to make sense of it, to solve the mystery it leaves behind, and to pull off one last, greatest-ever prank.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Not graphic, but most of the teen characters have lost their virginity. Some scenes of heavy kissing, oral sex, references to masturbation, erections, making out, watching pornography, etc.
Violence A fatal car wreck, a possible suicide, and a character has gruesome dreams about the wreck and its aftermath.
Language Teenspeak, with a fair number of four-letter words.
Message
	Social Behavior The main characters break rules, play serious pranks, and engage in dangerous behavior, seemingly without a second thought, and with few consequences.
	Commercialism Fast food restaurants, sodas.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Lots of underage drinking, drunkenness, and hangovers, drunk driving, much smoking, and references to marijuana, all of which is treated as normal.