First drink, first prank, first friend, first girl, last words! This is a poignant* and moving crossover novel about making friends and growing up by American author, John Green.

This book deals with the meaning of life, with guilt and grief*, with last words and first loves, from the point of view of Miles Halter. The 16-year-old is a skinny*, nerdy* guy. He is friendless, lonely, and his greatest quirk* is to read biographies in search of last words.

He is tired of his safe, boring and rather lonely life at home. He leaves for boarding school* filled with cautious* optimism*, to seek what poet Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.”

At the school he makes friends with his roommate Chip, a guy named Takumi and their best friend, a girl called Alaska Young. Halter falls in love with Young, who is wild, beautiful, intelligent, moody and mysterious.

Halter quickly joins their prank war against the Weekday Warriors, the rich children who go home every weekend. The friends bond over pranks*, studying, and rule-breaking. About halfway through the book a tragedy* occurs, and those left spend the rest of the book trying to make sense of it, to solve the mystery it leaves behind, and to pull off one last, greatest-ever prank.

“Looking for Alaska” discusses the indelible* impact one life can have on another.

There is a lot of food for thought, a great narrator, and the usual, great writing typical of this author.

(SD-Agencies)