Looking For Alaska

Miles Halter moves from his boring public school to Culver Creek Boarding School and experiences a major shift in life. He becomes wrapped up with his new best friend, The Colonel, and an entrancing Alaska Young. He waivers on the border of morality while engaging in seemingly reckless behaviors. He is seeking a “Great Perhaps” in life, willing to go along with his new friends in order to experience it all. Everything Miles experiences leads up to a life changing event. Everything changes, everything he’s ever believed changes.

The themes of Death and Romance will reach a host of readers. Young Adult readers will not only latch onto the main character, but they will feel each and every emotion, wavering doubt, and life questioning moment. A great follow up novel would be The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This novel also deals with love, loss, and death.

Chapter 2: Adolescent Development

Adolescents must develop morals and values. Readers will find their own values questioned and tested while reading this novel. Adolescents are still forming their own opinions of the world around them, and through reading this novel, with a main character who is also going through the same moral finding journey as they are, will hopefully show them that they are not alone, their thoughts and feelings are not isolated incidents, but felt and held by so many others.

Green, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska. New York: Dutton Children's Books.