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a great story that struggles with the realization that each person we come in contact with, we change and they change us. ( )

2006 Printz Award Winner ( )

A marvelous YA full of clever dialogue that moves from trivial matters to deeper ones of life and death ( )

looking for alaska is one of the few books that I have found that has been set in Alabama. This book has won the Michael Printz Award and was well deserved due in part to the excellent characters.

We meet our protagonist, Miles "Pudge" Halter getting ready to go to a private school in Alabama that his father went to, Culver Creek. Miles is obsessed with famous last words. He spends more time reading biographies than reading actual work done by the person. Last words are what got him where he is at the private school. "I go seek a Great Perhaps" - Francois Rabelais. Miles is in search of himself with people around him who smoke, drink and are in search of sex.

Another of the characters we meet is Chip "Colonel" Martin. He is the comic relief pretty much of the entire book. He is pretty funny. He and alaska spend a lot of time plotting the perfect prank. Speaking of Alaska. You either love alaska or you get annoyed with her just like her friends do by her constant mood swings.

The book is separated into two portions a before and an after. Because of the spoiler type things that happen in the before and the after I will not go into much detail about either of these portions. Just trust me that as the first book that I read for January and by John Green in general I can say that I wish I had picked up these books much much sooner. ( )