Looking For Alaska Book Talk

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Book Talk: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Miles Halter is worn-out of his foreseeable and unpopular life, so he decides to attend Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama for his junior year of high school. He tells his parents that he's going to seek a Great Perhaps, that there's something more for him besides being a loner and living in such predictability.
And there is more for him. The story is split in two parts: before and after.
Before:
Miles meets the Colonel, Takumi, and Alaska Young. These three are trouble makers and always play pranks on the school administrators. The Colonel grew up in a trailer park, Alaska and her dad don't get along, and Takumi is just kind of there for a while. The three take Miles under their wing and introduce him to the social order of campus, mischief-making, smoking cigarettes, and drinking. They have to avoid the Eagle, who is the dean of the school when they're creating pranks so they don't get brought before a peer jury and appropriately punished.
Time passes and Miles continues his participation in troubles and obsessing over Alaska. He stays on campus for Thanksgiving to try to get with her, but all he gets for his trouble is a sense of homesickness and confusion.
Following another prank they pulled after the break, Miles and the Colonel and Alaska are hanging out in Alaska's room. Both the Colonel and Alaska are drinking to celebrate the epic prank, but Miles isn't. Alaska and Miles make out a little but then Alaska gets a phone call from her boyfriend Jake because it's their eight-month anniversary. Then she freaks out and leaves campus in her car.
After:
All students are called to the gym the following morning for an announcement. The Eagle says that Alaska has died in a horrible car crash. Emotional train wreck ensues for all students, but especially for Miles and the Colonel.
The Colonel and Miles are consumed with guilt. They flail about with each other, in classes, and with their other friends because they are caught up in how Alaska died, their guilt, and whether she committed suicide or not.
The two friends try to unravel the mystery: they go to talk to the officer whose car Alaska hit, they steal a Breathalyzer from the Eagle's house to figure out how drunk Alaska was, and they talk to Alaska's ex-boyfriend, Jake. While all of this is occurring, Miles is trying to come to grips with who Alaska was and who he wanted her to be.
Eventually, Miles and the Colonel come to terms with their loss and grief and give up on the mystery of Alaska; then they throw themselves into their studies. The Old Man assigns a final exam essay that asks how each student personally gets out of their own labyrinth of suffering. Miles finally has some answers for the question and writes about them in his final exam, writing himself out of his own labyrinth of suffering about Alaska.


Why I Chose This Novel:
I chose this novel because I think it can help students recognize mental health in their close friendships. Alaska had many quotes throughout the novel that showed her mental health was not great. She reached out telling her friends about how her mom died in front of her, which explains a lot. I believe this book can be suitable for 8th-12th graders. I believe it is important for this age group because around middle school age is when you really start developing who you really are, who your friends are and trying to figure out where you belong.
“I may die young, but at least I'll die smart.” 
“Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.” 

Teaching Ideas
I am doing my three-week literature plan on this novel. I have included discussions, quizzes, short answer handouts, etc in my lesson planning.
One of my discussion questions was, “discuss an event in your life that gave you a “before and after” affect”.
Researching curriculum for this novel, many teachers included mental health awareness in their discussions.
For Example:
“Provide a quote that shows Alaska isn’t as happy as she makes herself out to be, discuss how they could’ve handled that quote differently”

Potential Issues:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/28/battle-keep-looking-for-alaska-kentucky-school-curriculum-john-green-ya
My biggest problem that will arise with this novel is the profanity, drug usage, sexual encounters, etc. Depends on the state. I think students can learn a lot about finding yourself from this novel. Parents, however, might not agree with me. I would most likely need my administrator to first approve this plan then reach out to sending a letter home to the parents. 

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