Looking for Alaska by John Green

Green, John. (2005). Looking for Alaska. NY: Dutton Juvenile.
ISBN: 978-0525475064
Awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2006)
Printz Award (2006)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist (2005)
Booklist Editors' Choice (2005)
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2005)
Michigan Library Association's Thumbs Up! Award (2006.1|Honor, 2006)
ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2009.04|Death and Dying, 2009)
ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2006)A
LA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (2009.3|Literature & Language Arts, 2009)Inky Awards (Silver Inky, 2007)
Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award Nominee (2009)
Book Sense Summer Pick Teen Readers (2005)
Genre: Fiction
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Suicide, Death, Grief, Friends, Love, Forgiveness
Annotation: Miles Halter, prep school newbie and loner, is befriended by his genius roommate, Chip, and beautiful but crazy Alaska. Together they pull pranks, become close, and deal with the consequences of a terrible accident.
Summary: Miles Halter, a.k.a. Pudge, longs to live life to the fullest and so transfers to a boarding school in a small Alabama town. Here he meets Chip, "The Colonel", and beautiful Alaska. They become fast friends and Pudge's life takes a turn toward the more daring and adventurous in Alaska's rebellious wake. Drinking and smoking and playing pranks keeps the kids entertained, but readers soon learn of Alaska's great guilt. Alaska blames herself for her mother's death and this burden just might be more than she can bear.
Evaluation: This is one of those books that shows life in all its crazy complexity, uncertainty, and also its capacity for great emotion. I read this one because I had heard so many good things about the writing and heavy topics. While in the end, we might remember the great suffering, I think the story and characters create a world that readers will love and relate to.