Looking
for Alaska
By John
Green
I came upon
John Green by way of my granddaughter, who is currently addicted to his
books. Wanting to have something to talk
about with her, I downloaded a John Green e-sampler from Amazon. The first book in the sampler, Looking for
Alaska, caught my interest immediately, so I downloaded the whole book onto
my Kindle. I loved the way it was set
up, starting with “one hundred thirty-six
days before…” and continued moving closer to whatever was going to
happen. Since I was reading it on my
Kindle, it wasn’t easy for me to skip ahead and see what was going to
happen. I couldn’t wait and kept reading
until it was done. I found the
characters to be realistic and likeable, and I’m sure the appeal would be even
greater to teens. The story evoked a
wide range of emotions, from laughing hysterically at some of the kids’ pranks
to deep sadness at the consequences of their actions.
Although
intended for Grades 9-12, I found the book engaging and well written. It covered sensitive topics, such as
substance abuse, sex and death, directly and with honesty. I can clearly see why my twelve-year-old
granddaughter loves John Green’s books.
I’m glad that she’s reading and that she has found an author who is
socially conscious. Looking for
Alaska is a coming of age story geared for those coming of age in
2014. I found it to be a great read for anyone who’d
like a window into the lives of those young adults. Definitely a good read!
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