Paper Towns by John Green is a young adolescent novel which tells the tale of Quinten, and his band geek buddies going on the scavenger hunt of their lives to find Quinten's dream girl when she mysteriously disappears. After spending years admiring his next door neighbor, Margo, from afar, Quinten embarks on the craziest night of his life with her. They get revenge on others in their grade, and break some laws along the way, but just when Quinten thought everything would be different with her, she vanishes, leaving a trail of clues for him to find her. This has everything in it to be an amazing YA novel, love, friendships, bullying, adventure, and risk taking. All of these aspects blend together to make a book almost anyone could enjoy, regardless of gender or age. I never wanted to put this book down, and it left me wanting more.
Aside from this book just being enjoyable it also showed many typical adolescent traits. The main characters were all approaching their high school graduation, so they fell in the category of upper adolescence, however they all showed different traits that fall under upper adolescence. Quinten was concerned about his future, keeping his spot at Duke University, and embarking in a meaningful relationship. Margo however was finding her independence as she left behind school and her family to be herself, no longer having to fit in the molds made fore her. All of these teenagers engaged in risk taking, which is often associated with the years of adolescents as they experimented with alcohol, attend parties, broke into sea world, skip their high school graduation, and did other crazy adventures along that way that their parents certainly would not have approved of.
Many of the events in this book portray the real life of most teenagers, while other things only some teenagers will experience. Students will almost all have struggles with friendships, relationships, or family, many will experiment with alcohol or attend parties, they may also face bullying. While most teens won't run away, they may feel like it, or distance themselves in other ways. This book can give several perspectives of different types of students and the relationships between them. As a future teacher it is important to see the rational behind many teenagers actions, and as this book has varying personality types it can show more than one type of student. It is a mixed bag, very much like will be seen in a classroom. Learning about why certain teens feel certain ways can help teachers help the students perform better in school, and since teachers themselves were ever only one type of adolescent they must learn more about the experiences of other adolescents.
Aside from this book just being enjoyable it also showed many typical adolescent traits. The main characters were all approaching their high school graduation, so they fell in the category of upper adolescence, however they all showed different traits that fall under upper adolescence. Quinten was concerned about his future, keeping his spot at Duke University, and embarking in a meaningful relationship. Margo however was finding her independence as she left behind school and her family to be herself, no longer having to fit in the molds made fore her. All of these teenagers engaged in risk taking, which is often associated with the years of adolescents as they experimented with alcohol, attend parties, broke into sea world, skip their high school graduation, and did other crazy adventures along that way that their parents certainly would not have approved of.
Many of the events in this book portray the real life of most teenagers, while other things only some teenagers will experience. Students will almost all have struggles with friendships, relationships, or family, many will experiment with alcohol or attend parties, they may also face bullying. While most teens won't run away, they may feel like it, or distance themselves in other ways. This book can give several perspectives of different types of students and the relationships between them. As a future teacher it is important to see the rational behind many teenagers actions, and as this book has varying personality types it can show more than one type of student. It is a mixed bag, very much like will be seen in a classroom. Learning about why certain teens feel certain ways can help teachers help the students perform better in school, and since teachers themselves were ever only one type of adolescent they must learn more about the experiences of other adolescents.
I really enjoyed reading your summary of this book. I have been thinking about reading it but was unsure if I would like it because most John Green books are the same to me. I was wondering, how do you think a teacher could take this book and really apply it to their students?
ReplyDeleteI love this blog because I love John Green! I am a huge Fault In Our Stars fan. I have two comments after reading your summary: first, is the book anything like the movie. I hate to admit it, but I haven't read this book yet. Second, which character do you see yourself most reflected in? That's something I always do with books, and stories; I try to connect to a certain character as much as possible and find similarities. What similarities to which characters do you see?
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see the movie so I could not tell you, but it is on my list to watch! I most see myself in Quinten, he's kinda a goody two shoes and a bit of a nerd, but he can do some crazy things too when accompanied by his friends.
DeleteI love your conclusion--it gets at one of the big reasons we have included the YA literature in Adolescent Development. Teachers can make assumptions about students based on their own experience. I like Vanessa's question above. Just like characters, there will be students you connect more easily with. I am hoping books can help us understand students we may not otherwise connect easily with.
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph is such a great wrap up! A lot of your points about our future classrooms being a "mixed bag" of students reminded me of Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche's "The Danger of a Single Story." Just because students are going through stages of adolescence doesn't mean they are all dealing with the same exact circumstances as one another. As future educators it is important for us to acknowledge the differences in our students as well as what they all might have in common.
ReplyDelete