Looking for Alaska

Review 9

Green, John. Looking for Alaska. New York: Dutton Books, 2005. Print.

Annotation: A smart, philosophical teenage journey.





Justification for Rejection: Green's characters sound very authentic and the adventures they take part in are quite fun. The book is a quick read, chaptered in terms of "number of days before" and "number of days after" works to make the book a quick read, as one wants to know what the event is, what leads up to it and what happens after, very crafty on Green's part.

The writing style is crisp, and fresh.

The teen figures present a range of characters from "normal" to "wild" and they do encounter relevant developmental themes of friendship, love, as well as the great quest to finding out "who they are".

I feel the novel, although glittered with philosophical nuggets, failed to make an especially compelling impression to be nominated for a Mock Printz Award.

Genre: Printz, Coming of Age, Realistic/Edgy