READ-ON SUMMARY EVIDENCE Book Reviewer: Stefany Alicea Book Title: Looking for Alaska Author: John Green

Quarter: 2 Genre: Fiction # of pages:221 School Year: 2014

The book that I read for read-on was Looking for Alaska by John Green. It is a fictional story where a young teenager in high school cant seem to find any friends. His fathers stories of when he was in high school inspired him to go and study at his fathers old high school. As Miles gets there he realizes that it wasnt such a bad idea after all. He meets a girl named Alaska, who he ends up falling in love with, but he cannot tell her how he truly feels because she is already taken. Miles tries to forget her and starts a relationship with a different girl but it just doesnt seem work out. Alaska who is a spontaneous and over all mysterious individual, is part of their group of friends. Miles (Pudge), Takumi, the Colonel and Alaska always have each others back. Towards the ending Alaska goes missing and no one in the group knows what happened. They try to figure out what had happened to her but in the end there is no absolute conclusion. My favorite passage from this book goes as the following: Karl Marx famously called religion the opiate of the masses and that is a powerful opiate, certainly, the hope of a better life to come. But theres this Sufi story that challenges the notion that people believe only because they need an opiate. Rabea al-Adiwiyah, a great woman saint of the Sufism, was seen running through the streets of her hometown, Basra, carrying a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. When someone asked her what she was doing, she answered, I am going to take this bucket and pour it on the flames of hell, and then I am going to use this torch to burn down the gates of paradise so that people will not love God for want of heaven or fear of hell, but because He is God. During my time reading the book I came to love these informational diamonds lost within the story plot. I have always found religion to be interesting and it was great to learn about the most popular religions while I was reading an interesting fictional story. I probably wouldnt hear any of this information out in normal occasions. I never even knew there was a place called Basra and all these great theorys that no one really pays any mind to. Religion is not a big topic in school because it is always looked at as something that separates us. I think that it should make us come together to understand the working of each religion. There is no wrong religion, there are just different beliefs that were taught and passed down to us from our ancestors. This passage was interesting to me because even though I am a Christian I do not fully believe in heaven, but I believe in God. And its true that most people follow Gods rules so they can have eternal peace and happiness. They see it as an insurance, an assurance that whatever they had to endure on this earth was worthwhile. And although it makes sense, it seems a bit shallow that thats the major reason that they follow their beliefs. But other times I feel like it is influence that makes us push towards that side of the matter. If all we hear are biased opinions that favor our religion and only one part of it, for example, heaven, then we are more likely to stray towards that path. All in all I thought this was a very interesting story and how conflicts that I have sometimes faced were also experienced by great women of decades past. This book was interesting, funny and surprising. I love it when books have plot twist and this definitely had one. It shocked me and just made me wonder how I had not seen any of the foreshadowing, when I was sure there was some. It was also an interesting novel, although it was fictional I could really see people having lives similar to the ones in the story. Throughout the book there are joke that made me laugh and parts were I got teary eyed. Its a book that plays with your emotions, but you end up enjoying it. I did not pass this book to anyone but I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great fictional story. The story itself gets you hooked and you cant put the book down. I, myself, used any spare time I had to continue reading this book. It was amazing completely amazing and will be sure to pass the word around.

Read-On Evidence Rubric

Exceeds Standard: 95 (A) Meets Standard: 85 (B) Approaching Standard

Book review goes beyond the requirements of a summary to include a creative and engaging analysis. Review incorporates properly cited quotes and shows in depth understanding of the book.

Book review provides a clear, mostly error-free summary of the book that includes an interesting passage, a personal connection and suggestions about who might like the book and why. All requirements on the form are completed. Student shows a thorough knowledge and understanding of book when asked questions or discussing it.

Student must revise and/or reread Book review does not provide adequate detail. Some requirements on the form have not yet been completed. Student cannot provide thorough responses to questions about book.

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