Paper Towns by John Green

Bibliographic Information
Publisher: Speak
Publication year: 2009
ISBN: 978-0142414934

Reader’s Annotation
Quentin has always admired Margo from afar until the night she knocks on his window and convinces him to come with her on a mission of revenge. The next day Margo has disappeared, leaving behind a string of clues that Quentin believes were left for him to follow.

Plot Summary
Quentin Jacobsen, nicknamed Q, is awakened one night by tapping on his window. His next door neighbor and semi-secret crush Margo is asking him to come on a mission of revenge against her cheating boyfriend and best friend, the girl he cheated with. Over the course of the prank-filled evening Q starts to hope things between he and Margo will be different from now on, but the next day she has disappeared. After being interviewed by the police about her disappearance, Q searches her bedroom and finds the first in a series of clues that he believes Margo left behind for him to come find her. Together with his friends Ben and Radar, Q embarks on a frantic scavenger hunt to places that only exist on maps.

Critical Evaluation
Paper Towns presents the incredibly interesting concept of landmarks that only exist on maps and not in the physical world. Green creates a compelling plot around this idea, which originally existed to deter map makers from plagiarizing each other’s work. However, the novel is driven by characters with two-dimensional personalities. Margo is presented as the quintessential “manic pixie dream girl” from her first appearance until the scene at the end of the novel where she blows up at Q about tracking her down. Q does not know Margo as she is now because they have not had a real conversation in years, yet he idealizes her to the point that he is willing to follow clues seemingly left for him and cross the country to get her back into his life. The overall intention of setting a novel in places that do not physically exist is fascinating, but a story like this is largely reliant on the characters.

Author Information
John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, vlogger, director, writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, stunt performer and actor. He won the 2006 Printz Award for his debut novel, Looking for Alaska, and his sixth novel, The Fault in Our Stars, debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list in January 2012. The 2014 film adaptation opened at number one on the box office. In 2014, Green was included in Time magazine's list of The 100 Most Influential People in the World. Another film based on a Green novel, Paper Towns, was released on July 24, 2015.

Aside from being a novelist, Green is also well known for his YouTube ventures. In 2007, he launched the VlogBrothers channel with his brother, Hank Green. Since then, John and Hank have launched events such as Project for Awesome and VidCon and created a total of 11 online series, including Crash Course, an educational channel teaching literature, history, and science, later joined by courses in economics, US government, astronomy, politics, and philosophy.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Green_(author)

Genre
Fiction
Mystery

Curriculum Ties
Geography

Booktalking Ideas
Explain what a “paper town” is, as it is explained in the book. Introduce the characters of Margo and Q, emphasizing how well the reader gets to know Q and how little we really know about Margo even by the end. Read a passage from the prank at the beginning to show Q’s infatuation with Margot. Then give a rating from 1-5 and tell the audience why this is my rating, and take questions.

Reading Level/Interest Age
Publisher's Weekly: Ages 12 and up
School Library Journal: Grade 9 up

Challenging Issues
Running Away

Preparing for Potential Challenges
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-potential-challenges.html

Why the Item Was Chosen
I chose this item because of John Green’s popularity and the fact that the movie is going to be released soon. Most modern young adults know this author even if they are not avid readers. Patrons might come into the library requesting anything by John Green because they heard his name on TV or the Internet, then discover lesser known titles while they browse. It is also important for readers to be aware of every title by authors they consider one of their favorites. Many teen readers consider John Green their favorite author even though they have only read The Fault in Our Stars; some are not aware he has other books. Keeping Paper Towns and other titles by John Green is an important tool for teen readers to get used to knowing an author’s entire catalogue, not just their most popular titles.