Looking for AlaskaLooking for Alaska
Score Modern
What it's about
Miles Halter, a skinny, lonely teenager obsessed with famous last words, leaves Florida for a boarding school in Alabama to seek a 'Great Perhaps'. There he falls in with a group of pranksters, and above all with Alaska Young, who is funny, beautiful, self-destructive and impossible to understand. The book counts down to something that will change them all.
Why it's worth reading
It won the Printz Award and was voted onto PBS's Great American Read. It was John Green's first novel and became a modern young-adult classic.
You'll love it if you liked
The Fault in Our Stars
The Catcher in the Rye
The OutsidersGood to know
It includes sex, drinking, smoking and a sudden death. It's often challenged in schools. Hulu made it a series.
By the numbers
- Readers34 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics0 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Bestseller75 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #94 of the 219 young adult books we rank
- #110 of the 233 romances we rank
- #766 of the 1,573 modern books we rank
- #1441 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
Moving
More by John Green
Everything Is Tuberculosis
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-centered PlanetThe Fault in Our Stars
Turtles All the Way DownIf you like this, read next
Purple Hibiscus
The Great Gatsby
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
The Help
The Last Song
The DealExplore the best-of lists
All 36 best-of lists →
Quick answers
Is Looking for Alaska worth reading?
Yes. It won the Printz Award and was voted onto PBS's Great American Read. It ranks #1,441 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 68.7 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Looking for Alaska about?
Miles Halter, a skinny, lonely teenager obsessed with famous last words, leaves Florida for a boarding school in Alabama to seek a 'Great Perhaps'. There he falls in with a group of pranksters, and above all with Alaska Young, who is funny, beautiful, self-destructive and impossible to understand. The book counts down to something that will change them all.
How long does it take to read Looking for Alaska?
About 7 hours (263 pages), or about 2 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after Looking for Alaska?
If you liked it, try The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger or The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton.