Paper Towns

Bibliographic Information: Green, J. (2008). Paper towns. New York: Dutton. ISBN: 978-0-525-47818-8

Plot Summary: Quentin “Q” Jacobsen has been in love with the unattainable Margo Spiegelman since they were kids. Though they hardly speak in high school, they share an experience from when they were nine: they discovered a dead man in a park. Since then, Q has been intrigued and infatuated with the Margo he thinks he knows. One night, she shows up at his bedroom window, dressed in all black and wearing black face paint. She asks him to be her partner-in-crime for the evening, and Q barely puts up a fight. Together they adventure through Margo’s revenge plot set against her ex-boyfriend and former friends. After numerous breaking-and-entering encounters, including one into SeaWorld, the couple find themselves bonding closer than ever before. But a mysterious aura surrounds Margo that evening, and Q can’t put his finger on it.

            Then Margo mysteriously vanishes without a trace, and Q feels like she has left him a series of clues to her location. Piece by piece, Q gathers evidence in an intellectual, literary, and musical scavenger hunt that leads to a summer road trip with his best pals after high school graduation. In his pursuit of understanding and finding Margo, Q journeys on a quest of his own, one that transforms him and sets the stage for his adult life.

Critical Evaluation: This is a high school romance story and mystery novel all in one. But most importantly, it’s a coming-of-age story about a boy who is searching for meaning in a “paper town” full of “paper people”. The story is littered with tangible characters: Q’s trio of best friends has a quirky and fun dynamic that reveals the familiar process of getting to know others through shared experiences. Though many people become involved with the search for Margo, it is Q who spearheads the search, thanks to his infatuation with this unattainable girl. Rather than being a story of love-that-could-have-been, Paper Towns is more about accepting the love-that-never-was-going-to-be. Not a lot of YA novels cover this kind of story, where the pursuit of a fantasy results in a pursuit for self-identity. All of the qualities that Q sees in Margo are qualities he admires in her: courage, impulse, adventure, freedom, and truth. They are qualities that he doesn’t see in himself, until Margo’s disappearance triggers his desire to solve the mystery of her. The trail of clues is at once, far-fetched, but also revealing of Q’s intellect and desire for growth. His constant analyzing of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, symbolizes his internal search for truth.

            The ending of the book reveals the danger of facades and assumptions. Q finds out that he has been gravely mistaken about Margo from the get-go. His idea of her was just part of the mark she left on her old life before she ran away. Margo’s strong will displays to teens what it takes to really grow up, and that growing up is also a very personal and unique experience.

Reader’s Annotation: Quentin is in love with the adventurous, spunky, and spontaneous Margo, who, after a night of revenge and suspense, disappears. Faced with the challenge of finding Margo, and himself, Quentin is intent on discovering the truth.

Author Information: Wikipedia states, “Green grew up in Orlando, Florida, before attending Indian Springs School, a boarding and day school outside of Birmingham, Alabama. He graduated from Kenyon College in 2000 with a double major in English and Religious Studies.

After leaving college, Green spent five months working as a student chaplain in a children's hospital, and was enrolled at the University of Chicago Divinity School at the time, although he never actually attended. His experiences of working with children with life-threatening illnesses inspired him to later write The Fault in Our Stars.

Green lived for several years in Chicago, where he worked for the book review journal Booklist as a publishing assistant and production editor while writing Looking for Alaska. While there, he reviewed hundreds of books, particularly literary fiction and books about Islam orconjoined twins. He has also critiqued books for The New York Times Book Review and written for National Public Radio's All Things Considered and WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Green lived in New York City for two years while his wife attended graduate school.”

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Mystery

Subjects: love, growing up, missing persons, road trip, run aways

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Set up a scavenger hunt to find the book, and discuss the search for self.

Reading Level/Interest Age: 14+

Challenge Issues/Defense: N/A

Reason for Selection: John Green does an excellent job of getting into the mind young adult reasoning (when it comes to matters of the heart especially.) The characters were vivid and the mysterious plot is engaging.