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Looking for Alaska by John Green



Looking for Alaska is a New York Times' Bestselling YA novel by John Green. It also won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2006. Although this book was published in 2005, it continues to be extremely popular and is often on required reading lists for high school students. There's a rumor floating around that it may become a movie sometime in the near future as well.

Miles leaves his home in Florida to attend a boarding school in Birmingham, Alabama. While there, he develops close friendships with his roommate, "The Colonel", and a girl down the hall named Alaska. Throughout the year, they spend their time sneaking around and playing pranks on the "rich" kids. When tragedy strikes, Miles is determined to find answers and figure out how to move forward.

Sex: This book is extremely sexually explicit. There are several graphic conversations and one scene in particular that is very detailed.

Language: High.

Drug/Alcohol Use: The characters often sneak off to drink and smoke. They are all underage.

Violence/Gore/Frightening Scenes/Death: There is a very tragic death.

Final Note: This book has become pretty popular. I think it touches on real issues, and from what I understand, it's based loosely upon John Green's own high school experience. That being said, the sexual content and language are very heavy. For me personally, it wasn't easy to read, and I found myself skipping or skimming over several sections.

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