In continuing my mission to read every John Green novel known to man, I invested my time in Paper Towns.  This book follows the life of high school senior Quentin Jacobsen and his mission to find his first love, Margo, after she mysteriously disappears.  Margo is adventurous and exciting, and acts as a nice foil to Quentin’s shy and reserved personality.

As cheesy as this plotline sounds, Paper Towns was actually an interesting story filled with mystery, comedy, and a break-in to Sea World.  While the ending is somewhat disappointing and frustrating, everything leading up to it is exciting and enlightening.  This story is humorous, yet has dark undertones as it reveals faults in humanity and society.

What I learned through reading this book is that Green is an expert at creating relatable teenaged characters.  In Paper Towns, the main characters are worried about their future, but also concerned with living in the moment.  As we all know, these two tasks can be very difficult to balance.  In Paper Towns, Quentin teaches the readers how to balance the two, and how this combination of enjoying adventure and preparing for the future helps us to discover ourselves and what we want out of life.

-Amanda D., 11th grade