Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska 

Author: John Green

Publisher: Dutton (Penguin Books)

Year Published: 2005

Genre: Realistic Fiction 

Reader Recommendation:  

• High School Students
• Readers looking for a thought-provoking novel
• Female and male perspectives
• Readers looking to read about the high school experience/adolescence 

Looking for Alaska: Miles attends Culver Creek boarding school in search of what he calls "a great perhaps" and discovers just what he was looking for when he meets the eccentric Alaska Young. Alaska is everything Miles is not, she is daring, impulsive, and unpredictable. She captures Miles from the moment he meets her and leaves a mark on his life that makes it impossible for things to ever be the same again. 

Why Looking for Alaska? Looking for Alaska is not just another teen novel. It addresses hard questions about hope, religion, life, and death. Students can begin to think deeper about what keeps each of us going in life and how each one of us navigates "the labyrinth of suffering."

Themes:
Life and Death: The theme of life and death is portrayed throughout the book in Miles' obsession with individuals last words as he believes they say a lot about their life. This theme is also present as the students attend their religion class which requires them to answer their own questions about the afterlife and their "cause for hope."

Emotional Intimacy: Miles and Alaska share an emotional intimacy that transcends physical intimacy.

Suffering: Characters each experience their own suffering which drives their choices and actions. 

Units: Choices & Consequences, Relationships, Experiences that Shape Us

 

Teaching Looking for Alaska:

Discussion: 

• Quotes: Break students up into small groups and have them discuss different quotes from the novel and their relevance to the story. (What is the context, who said it and what does it say about them, what does it mean to YOU?)
• Discuss what it is about Alaska that is so eccentric and endearing
• Address the same questions the characters in the book do about suffering and hope 

Cause for Hope: Have students create an online Glogster page that represents all the things that make them hopeful. 

Last Words: Have students look up individuals last words and journal about them as well as reflect on the legacy they would want to leave. 

Letter to Alaska: Have students assume the role of Miles or The Colonel and write a letter to Alaska.  

Music Soundtrack: Have students select music that would go along with the novel. Have students include a rationale of why they chose the songs they did and how they would fit with the content of the story. 

Teaching Resources:

Educator Guide to Novel:
http://www.penguin.com/static/images/yr/pdf/JohnGreen_Guide_june_2014.pdf 

John Green argues against Censorship of Looking for Alaska:  
https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/apr/26/john-green-looking-for-alaska-banned-censorship 

Reader's Guide: 
https://www.teachervision.com/tv/printables/penguin/tl-guide-looking-for-alaska.pdf

Audiobook: http://www.audible.com/pd/Teens/Looking-for-Alaska-Audiobook/B002UZL52K