Publisher Description

The award-winning, genre-defining debut from John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and The Fault in Our Stars
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award • A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist • A New York Times Bestseller • A USA Today Bestseller • NPR's Top Ten Best-Ever Teen Novels • TIME magazine's 100 Best Young Adult Novels of All Time • A PBS Great American Read Selection • Millions of copies sold!
 
First drink. First prank. First friend. First love.

Last words.
 
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A modern classic, this stunning debut marked #1 bestselling author John Green's arrival as a groundbreaking new voice in contemporary fiction.

Newly updated edition includes a brand-new Readers' Guide featuring a Q&A with author John Green

Author Biography

John Green is the award-winning, #1 bestselling author of books including Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, and Turtles All the Way Down. His books have received many accolades, including a Printz Medal, a Printz Honor, and an Edgar Award. John has twice been a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and was selected by TIME magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. He is also the writer and host of the critically acclaimed podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed. With his brother, Hank, John has co-created many online video projects, including Vlogbrothers and the educational channel Crash Course. He lives with his family in Indianapolis, Indiana. You can visit John online at johngreenbooks.com.

Review

Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award
A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
A New York Times Bestseller • A USA Today Bestseller
NPR's Top Ten Best-Ever Teen Novels
TIME magazine's 100 Best Young Adult Novels of All Time
A PBS Great American Read Selection
 
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Top 10 • An ALA Quick Pick • A Booklist Editors' Choice selection • A Kirkus Best Book of the Year • An SLJ Best Book of the Year • A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best • A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

"What sets this novel apart is the brilliant, insightful, suffering but enduring voice of Miles Halter." —Chicago Tribune
 
"Looking For Alaska is a showcase to the raw talent John Green has, the kind of talent that can make you close the crisp last page of a novel and come out as a different person....

A gem of modern literature." —Guardian 
 
… "What sings and soars in this gorgeously told tale is Green's mastery of language and the sweet, rough edges of Pudge's voice." —Kirkus

… "Alive with sweet, self-deprecating humor." —SLJ
 
"Funny, sad, inspiring, and always compelling." —Bookpage
 
"The spirit of Holden Caulfield lives on." —Kliatt 
 
"Stunning conclusion . . . one worthy of a book this good." —Philadelphia Inquirer
 

Long Description

Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An ALA Quick Pick A Los Angeles Times 2005 Book Prize Finalist A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age A 2005 Booklist Editors Choice A 2005 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year Before. Miles Pudge Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the Great Perhaps even more (Franois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.

Review Quote

Readers will only hope that this is not the last word from this promising new author. (Publishers Weekly)

Discussion Question for Reading Group Guide

INTRODUCTION Looking for Alaska Everybody has a talent. Miles Halter''s is knowing the last words of a lot of different people--people like the author Rabelais, whose enigmatic last words "I go to seek a Great Perhaps" inspire the sixteen year-old to leave his family home in Florida and enroll in Culver Creek, a co-ed boarding school in Alabama. There he makes a new circle of friends: his roommate Chip, a scholarship student whom everyone calls "The Colonel;" Takumi, a slyly funny Japanese-American rapper; and sweet-spirited, Romanian-born Lara, who has trouble pronouncing the letter "i." But most importantly he meets Alaska, a beautiful girl who "had eyes that predisposed you to supporting her every endeavor." Miles quickly falls in love with this reckless, quirky, endlessly intriguing girl. An omnivorous reader, Alaska introduces him to a new set of last words -- those of South American liberator Sim

Excerpt from Book

"So do you really memorize last words?" She ran up beside me and grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back onto the porch swing. "Yeah," I said. And then hesitantly, I added, "You want to quiz me?" "JFK," she said. "That''s obvious," I answered. "Oh, is it now?" she asked. "No. Those were his last words. Someone said, ''Mr. President, you can''t say Dallas doesn''t love you,'' and then he said, ''That''s obvious,'' and then he got shot." She laughed. "God, that''s awful. I shouldn''t laugh. But I will," and then she laughed again. "Okay, Mr. Famous Last Words Boy. I have one for you." She reached into her overstuffed backpack and pulled out a book. "Gabriel Garc

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