Entry 4

Why I picked Looking for Alaska

To be completely truthful I picked this book because I thought it was going to be about finding the state Alaska and I love to read exploring books so that is why I got it in the first place but then i read the back of the book and was a little disappointed and a little shocked that Alaska was a person and not a state. Then I started talking to my friends about what book they picked out and i had a couple of friends that were reading it so that also got me excited to read it. The only real connection I have with the book is that Miles is in high school going through the daily struggles of fitting in. 

I would recommend this book to someone who likes a little bit of drama and love. You could really recommend this to a girl or a guy but I think the girl will like it more. They throw a party right at the beginning of the book which hooks in the guys and the girls will like the fact Miles have a crush on Alaska but is dating Lara thanks to Alaska.

Entry 3

Hooking Part

I'm going to throw a twist on this entry and not pick a section of the book but how John Green does the chapters. Instead of giving the chapters a goofing name that relates in some kind of fashion. He counts down to the big event of the whole book.  So the whole time you are reading the book you know something is going to happen and when but you don't know what is going to happen. So the whole first section of the book is a big cliff hanger because you are getting closer and closer to knowing what is going to happen you just cant stop. The first time you see a countdown it kinda shocks you that the author John Green tells you when the main event is going to happen. The first time you read the count down it is 21 pages in so that was my second time picking the book up and after that i could not put it down. The first countdown is over half a year til the event happens so there is still a lot to read but the less amount of  days get the short the chapters do. So once you you get to 20ish days you do not put the book down no matter what.

Entry 2

Characters Desire, Themes, and Book Structure 

In looking for Alaska the characters have different desires but I feel like Alaska and Chip Martin have very alike desires.  The both want to live life in there way of think that is the fullest by drink smoking and drinking but I think that they do it for two different reasons.  I think Chip just does it to have fun. Alaska on the other hand does it to help her with her emotions about losing her mom at a young age. Miles aka Pudge main reason for leaving his old school was because he didn't have any friends, so by him coming to Culver Creek he wanted to have a fresh start.
Miles has a crush on Alaska but he dates Lara for the first half of the book. So i guess you could say that dating or love is a theme of the book.
The book is split into two different parts. The first part is counting down by days to the event. An example is instead of saying chapter it will say "one hundred days before". Then the second part is counting how many days after the event had happened. Another example is "forty-five days after".

Characters, Setting, Conflict

Important Characters, Setting and Conflict

The Main character is Miles Halter. He is nicknamed Pudge by his room mate Chip Martin.  The fact that Miles Halter nickname is Pudge is funny because tall and skinny. In the very beginning of the book you learn that he has a weird obsession to learn and remember the last words of famous people.  Chip Martin is Miles Halter"s room mate.  Unlike Miles it is not Chip's first year at the boarding school. It actually is his third year at Culver Creek Boarding school, so he shows Miles the ups and downs of the school.  Then there is Alaska Young.  She is a good looking, rule breaking girl.  She deals alcohol and cigarettes, so her group always had tons of alcohol to get drunk. Alaska is best friends with Chip but Miles has feelings for her that don't really go both ways.

The book mainly takes place at the Boarding School, Culver Creek. It is a both girls and boys school, which leads to some crazy stories. There are a tin of little conflicts but the big main one is finding out  why Alaska did what she did. They try to figure out if it was an accident or if she did it on purpose.   

Blogger Reflection

1. “One of his friend's actually wrote a book, but I didn't think it was very good” (muff).  this shows voice because is is a personal opinion of mine over the book i read.  It also shows personal experience.  I the voice of the story really makes the story sound way more like a human wrote it.

2. I use personal experiences  which make the blog sound more personable.  The sentences are medium length so the blog is easy to read.  I also use low informal diction so it makes you connect to the reader more. Heres a sentence of low diction,”This always keeps you on your feet while reading the book” (muff). That sentence shows low diction very well.

Why do you think the author wrote this work?

·         Why do you think the author wrote this work? 

        I think the author wrote this book because he wanted to show that not all of Afghanistan people are bad people.  But he also wanted to show that his fallen soldiers never gave up. He wrote the book as a gift to them so they are never forgotten.  He also wrote it as a gift to show how he was thankful of the village people giving their lives for his.  The book probably took some stress off his back too.

This is why I picked my book

I have recently have got into war books because the they are very interesting.  The never have a common theme to them. Unlike in super hero books you know that the super hero will never die.  In war books anyone could die sat any time.   This always keeps you on your feet while reading the book.  My dad reads a ton of war books because he has a lot of friends that were in the military.  One of his friend's actually wrote a book, but I didn't think it was very good. I also wanted to read this because I watched a 60 minutes interview with the author.