Tag Archives: coming of age

Paper Towns by John Green

Posted on by
3

papertowns_johngreenWhen I first saw this book, I thought it was kind of weird. I didn’t suspect that the title actually meant something. But after reading other well-known John Green books, I decided to read it. I had heard a lot about the novel—it’s one of my friend’s all-time favorite books—but it was only recently that I gave it a chance.

To be technical, paper towns are “created to protect against copyright infringement” (307). Essentially, they are just made-up towns put on a map by cartographers who wanted to make sure no one plagiarized their design. An interesting idea, but it sounded fake to me. How wrong I was. In “Fun With Copyright Traps: 10 Hoax Definitions, Paper Towns, and Other Things that Don’t Exist,” Crezo pointed out that on the border between Ohio and Michigan, two cities were inserted: Beatosu (Beat OSU) and Goblu (Go Blue), both of which were made up to support the University of Michigan teams and later found out and forcibly removed!

Margo, and in turn Quentin and his friends, develop a fascination with these towns which leads them to leave their high school graduation for a wild adventure in search of Margo. Through all this, the reader learns subtle lessons about life–even if that sounds cliché, that is exactly what someone is left with after reading the book.

This book was fantastic. It’s one of those books that requires your attention. You can’t just read it and forget about it after. Compared to John Green’s other novels, this book certainly dealt with larger issues, but it was still touching in the way all good novels should be. This is the type of book I would love to read again in 10 years, just to see how I have changed and if I can find new meaning in the book. Overall, though, this is a 9 out of 10!

-Leila S., 10th grade

Paper Towns and its feature film adaptation is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded from Overdrive. 

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Posted on by
1

aseparatepeace_johnknowlesHave you ever been jealous of your best friend? Wished you could be better than him/her?

Though I say this with regret, I have experienced such jealousy. And so has Gene Forrester. His best friend, Phineas, had everything. He was the best athlete at school, and he appeared perfect in every way. All Gene seemed to have going for him was his smarts. During the summer school session Phineas started a new club with new activities he became involved with. Phineas’ life seemed carefree while Gene struggled to study and became distracted. He believed that Phineas was intentionally leading him astray to appear better than Gene.

The boys had a fascination with climbing a certain tree and jumping into the river. One day, when climbing the tree, Gene shook the branch, causing Phineas to lose his balance and fall, shattering the bones in his leg, which forced Phineas to give up sports. Gene visited Phineas on one occasion to try to explain and apologize, but he never exactly got to the point.

When Phineas became strong enough to return to school, he decided to be Gene’s trainer. Phineas even came up with an idea that World War II was just made up by the politicians. Gene, though a part of him knew that this philosophy is not true, accepted this. The two of them were able to live together, in a sort of peace separated from the troubles of the world.

But this peace eventually shattered, as the life in front of Gene became more complicated and full of burdens. The carefree days of the summer session disappeared, and Gene was forced to wake up to the life of an adult, fraught with responsibilities and loss.

As a book required for English, I found the storyline lacking. Perhaps because the narrator was reflecting on childhood and presenting the coming-of-age themes through the lens of a much older person, I struggled a bit with connecting to the lessons. This may be a book that offers more meaning once you have more life experiences. However, from a simpler standpoint, I recognized the dangers of being too jealous.

– Leila S., 10th grade

A Separate Peace is available for check out from the Mission Viejo Public Library.