Summer Assignment Entry Four: Looking For Alaska By John Green

Looking for Alaska, by John Green, is definitely in my top 5 favorite books! It hooked you from the very beginning and continued to surprise you and it kept you wanting to read. The reasons I chose this novel are the fact that it was written by John Green, one of my favorite authors and that it was a romance/action book. I am not the type of girl who likes romance books but when it is paired with action or mystery I really enjoy them. Another reason why I chose this book was the cover. It is plain, but it makes you ask so many questions. For example, "Why the smoke? Why is the cover black? Does that mean something bad may happen (usually darker covers mean a "darker" novel)? What does the smoke have to do with love?" I did have quite a few personal connections with this novel. A few of the connections I had were  feelings of loss. When my great grandfather died, that hit me really hard. It was summer break at the time so my grades did not suffer but it was very hard to finally let go. Another connection I made was to Pudge. He started off as a very shy boy and turned into a more outgoing and loud boy with a little help from his friends. I used to be very shy until I met one of my best friends who broke me out of my shell. Finally, my last connection is with Alaska. She seemed to have many conflicts or stress throughout the school year but when break came she let some of it go and became happier and less worried. I have those same problems as well. I stress about juggling homework and sports and family time and it becomes very overwhelming. It can make you irritable and sometimes moody which Alaska did show. Once break comes, it makes you feel a sigh of relief because you have a more open schedule.

I loved this book so much! I would recommend it to freshman and up. The only reason I recommend that age is because there are curse words and a few inappropriate situations plus the use of alcohol and drugs. If you do not like romance and/or action, then I would not recommend this book to you. If you do not like death or someone being involved in an accident and being killed, then this is not the book for you. If you like all of those things mentioned above, then this will be a great read! You will not regret it. You won't be able to put it down once you have picked it up.

Summer Assignment Entry Three: Looking For Alaska By John Green

I have to say Looking for Alaska, by John Green has had so many hooks. It is such a great book. It always makes you want to read more. The hook below is from the beginning of the book and it is when the Weekday Warriors start to make the pranks very serious. Usually, they take the new kids and throw them in the lake and make them swim back, but Pudge was a different story. On page 25, it states,"When we reached the beach, they told me to put my arms at my sides, and the beefiest guy grabbed two rolls of duct tape from the sand. With my arms flat against my sides like a soldier at attention, they mummified me from my shoulder to my wrists. Then they threw me down on the ground; the sand from the fake beach cushioned the landing, but I still hit my head. Two of them pulled my legs together while the other one—Kevin, I'd figured out—put his angular, strong-jawed face up so close to mine that the gel-soaked spikes of hair pointing out from his forehead poked at my face, and told me, "This is for the Colonel. You shouldn't hang out with that asshole." They taped my legs together, from ankles to thighs. I looked like a silver mummy. I said, "Please guys, don't," just before they taped my mouth shut. Then they picked me up and hurled me into the water." As you can tell the boys took it way too far! They almost killed Pudge! He barely managed to make it to the shore. He made himself float and then used the mermaid style of swimming to get himself safely back to shore. Once he got back to the school, he immediately went to Alaska's room. She wasn't very helpful. She made jokes and wasn't there to comfort him but she didn't know how far the Weekday Warriors had taken it either. Next, Pudge went back to his room and told Colonel everything and of course that made him very angry. Colonel immediately started thinking of ways to get them back. Colonel had declared war on the Weekday Warriors.

Summer Assignment Entry Two: Looking For Alaska By John Green Spoiler Alert!

Looking for Alaska, includes the four main characters that I mentioned above: Colonel, Pudge, Takumi and Alaska. Colonel is a dynamic character. At the very beginning, he was happy, loving life, loving being with his friends and fairly close to his home. As the book goes on, he becomes angrier and more mischievous because the "Weekday Warriors" (the rich kids) started playing pranks on them. The Weekday Warriors were playing pranks on them because of the previous year. Someone (no one knew who at the time) ratted out Paul and Marya when they were being inappropriate towards each other and they were expelled from school. The Weekday Warriors always assumed that it was the Colonel and his friends but in truth, it wasn't. At the very end, Colonel and his friends go through the most traumatic thing anyone can go through which makes him become a very depressed and more quiet person. Alaska, one of his best friends dies. He started dropping his grades and not even attending all of his classes. As for Pudge, he is also a dynamic character. He started out as the shy nerd who turned into the outgoing nerd, with a little help from Colonel and Alaska. Pudge wasn't as into the pranking as Colonel because he had never done anything bad like that. He changed his mind fairly quickly after they nearly drowned him and flooded Alaska's room. Pudge became a stronger and more independent boy as the book moved along until Alaska died. When she died, Pudge shut down. He was in denial for the longest time. He thought that Alaska was pulling one of her pranks again but Eagle had to calm him down and explain to him that he saw her at the crime scene and that she had died instantly. He began to let go after a few months and got his grades back up and participated more in class. He still thought of Alaska but he knew she was in a better place.

Takumi was also a dynamic character. He was always involved in the pranks unlike Pudge. He thoroughly enjoyed his time with his friends and during school. He was always a happy guy with a little bit of revenge on his mind when it came to the Weekday Warriors because of the stunts they had pulled on his friends. The biggest change occurred when Alaska died. Like all of the other people that I have mentioned above, he too felt like a part of him was missing but he managed to get back on his feet and continue on with his life. Finally, Alaska, who is different from all the rest. She is a round character. She always always always had a conflict or her mood would change. She is such a complex character, you never know how she will feel next. Throughout the book, she had mood swings. They occurred almost everyday. It was crazy how quickly she could change from happy to upset and hysterical. Those exact moments are the ones that would eventually kill her. So far I have noticed a few themes such as: Love, Friendship and Betrayal. As for structure, my book is almost like a journal. It starts off as, "one hundred thirty-six days before" and it continues to go down until it reaches "one day before". The Before is referring to the death of Alaska. Once her death as occurred, it begins with, " the day after" and goes all the way to " one hundred thirty-six days after" just like the beginning of the book. It really wraps up the book nicely.

Summer Assignment Entry One: Looking For Alaska By John Green

Looking for Alaska, a book by John Green, takes place a little south of Birmingham, Alabama at a school called Culver Creek Preparatory School. Culver Creek is boarding school with very hard classes that constantly challenge its students. All the hard work pays off because it produces some of the smartest kids in the area, compared to other boarding schools that focus more on athletics. However, just because they have good grades, doesn’t meant that they don’t get into trouble. The students always seem to be getting in trouble for drinking or smoking on school grounds. Mr. Starnes, the dean of Culver Creek, aka the Eagle (a name the students call him because he sees and hears everything) created a Jury system. When students were caught doing inappropriate things the dean would tell them a date in which they would appear in front of the Jury (other students) and of course, the Judge, the one and only Mr. Starnes.  The students of the Jury would chose the punishment and Mr. Starnes would approve or change the punishment to whatever he wanted. Most of the time he approved what the Jury came up with. It always seemed to be the same students who kept getting in trouble.

Those students happened to also be the main characters. Miles, aka Pudge, is the new kid on the block, as they say. Chip, aka Colonel, his roommate, gave him that nickname because he is so skinny. Miles is a very shy boy which brings up our first conflict. He has trouble making friends and fitting in. This conflict was quickly resolved when Chip showed him around and took Miles to meet some of his friends. The first person Miles was introduced to was Alaska.  Miles fell for her as soon as he saw her. The first thought that came to his mind when he saw her was, “but I barely heard him because the hottest girl in all of human history was standing before me in cutoff jeans and a peach tank top. And she was talking over the Colonel, talking loud and fast.” Every time he saw her new thoughts would come into his head, he would admire her more and more. He began to slowly fall in love. Sadly a new conflict had arisen, she had a boyfriend.  The last person that Miles was introduced to was a boy named Takumi. They all became best friends as the school year went on, which helped Pudge to become a lot less shy.