Looking For Alaska by John Green

I regularly ask my students to recommend books to me. There are a couple of reasons I do this. The sneaky teacher reason is that it tells me the last book that the student really enjoyed which usually gives me some insight into them as readers. It's a good indication of reading level, reading preference, and, in some cases, personality quirk. For example, if a student tells me that the class novel from the previous year is their favorite book ever, chances are pretty good that I'm going to have to work at establishing trust with the kid because they are probably giving me a 'safe' choice.

The other reason is that I'm genuinely interested in talking to people about books. A person really lights up when they talk about a book that they actually enjoyed. A significant portion of my reading during the school year is driven by student and friend recommendations. When the same book gets recommended by multiple sources, I really take note.

John Green gets recommended to me a lot. As a general rule girls tend to recommend The Fault in Our Stars to me, boys tend to recommend Looking for Alaska. Also, as an interesting point, the boys who recommended Looking for Alaska to me tended to be students I would otherwise describe as struggling readers. I really wanted to read the book; any book that can get my boys to read is worth checking out. However, I couldn't get it through the school library because our copies kept disappearing (another good sign) and the waiting list through my county library was about 30 people deep. I finally got my own copy in my latest mass book buy. (2nd & Charles is selling them for about $2 a copy and they have about 15 copies sitting on the shelf) I devoured it in about a day.

Miles Halter decides to go to boarding school to look for the 'Great Perhaps.' He's an odd kid really. He's obsessed with the last words of famous people and starts the beginning of the novel fighting against a sense of existential ennui which fuels his decision to attend Culver Creek Boarding School. He is quickly immersed in the strange social world of the school and given the ironic nickname of Pudge. His roommate, the Colonel, serves as a guide and friend as he folds him into his social scene with Alaska (her actual name) and Takumi.

Alaska is the this strange free spirit who shifts rapidly between intense free-spirited hijinks, feminist anger, and despair. She's broken and the boys are each in love with her in their own ways. She seems like an analog for Janis Joplin or Grace Slick honestly.

The whole novel is organized in two sections: 'Before' and 'After.' Obviously, something big happens and given that it won a Printz award, it's a safe bet that it's something tragic. It's an interesting format choice actually because it sets up the expectation of the reader for the big event. In the 'Before' section, the tone is mostly humorous and lighthearted. 'After' is much more grim and downbeat. The shift is a big jarring but the setup makes it work.

I like the way Green handles grief in this. There is no simple solution and there is no pat reasoning. This is a book that embraces the ambiguity of sudden tragedy and acknowledges that truth that even if we can answer all the 'whys' of an event, we still will be no closer to really understanding.

Clearly oriented towards a more male audience, there are things in here that some parents may object to including substance abuse and sexuality. However, I believe these things are in service to the plot and, for me at least, Green's treatment of the greater themes outweighs that concern. I would recommend this book to many of my students.