“Paper Towns” is becoming a well-known book among students across the country. It is a book that involves risk, adventure, and finding oneself. These elements seem to be important for a renowned adolescent-targeting book, however, numerous books have these elements and are not nearly as well known. What makes John Green’s “Paper Towns” popular among youth is its engaging plot, realistic dialogue and the large fan following that John Green has. All of these factors combine to allow the attraction that the book has. “Paper Towns” was written by John Green and published by Dutton Books in October 2008. It is the third book written by John Green. The book, as with all of John’s writings, is a young-adult fiction. “Paper Towns” has won
John Green is well-known for his realistic writing style and this is something I observe in all of his books. I specify his dialogue use since it is extremely detrimental for avid readers. The fact that “Paper Towns” has been made into a movie can exhibit his uses of spoken language in written language. Since he writes people talking in the way that normal people talk, it is simple to adapt that to a movie version. What is spoken in the book can be spoken in the movie without having to change the phrasing. Phrasing and word-choice is important in writing dialogue as people find it difficult to relate to a character that speaks too formally or a person that expresses language strangely. Few adolescent readers are pleased or willing to read a book where the readers speak above their heads. This is why the skill of writing realistic dialogue is important and it is something John Green seems to have mastered. One example of realistic language is the use of curse words, which, while used sparingly, are used for emphasis in the same way that real people use them for emphasis. Another example is a quote from the book that says, “That’s always seemed ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they’re pretty. It’s like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste.” I consider the simile used to be exemplary for the reason that it is not a complex thought, yet still produces the comparison that John Green wished to. The simile is understandable and uses common
It is well known that books read by adolescents are somewhat inappropriate in certain ways such as language and the types of actions done by the characters. Some books consist of drugs, sex, and violence which obviously isn’t very appropriate nor does it consist of positive values. It is easy to see why some books ar...
Life is something that we all have. We all have it differently and live it the way we want to live. Some people are more daring and adventurous than others and some people are sitting at home and reading a good book. Life gives us different paths and we learn new things, make mistakes, and learn from them. The more we learn, the less innocent we are. This is called an innocence to experience archetype, where is a loss of innocence which leads to experience. The book Paper Towns written by John Green shows this archetype through the main character, Quentin. Quentin Jacobsen is taken on an adventure by his love and neighbour, Margo Roth Spiegelman based on the clues that she has left behind. Quentin starts out as a “concerned for college with a perfect attendance” kind of person who goes on a journey and learns about things that he has never heard of, which is his loss of innocence who at the
What makes a character real? Schooled is a novel written by Gordon Korman. The novel’s protagonist and is Capricorn Anderson, a 13-year-old hippie who lives on a farm commune with his grandmother. Capricorn, however, has to live with another family and attend a public school when his grandmother breaks her hip and has to stay at the hospital for weeks. This paper discusses true-to-self Capricorn Anderson, his path, and purpose in the text, his interactions and effect on others, and his change over time.
After hearing a brief description of the story you might think that there aren’t many good things about they story. However, this is false, there are many good things in this book that makes it a good read. First being that it is a very intriguing book. This is good for teenage readers because often times they don’t willingly want to read, and this story will force the teenage or any reader to continue the book and continue reading the series. Secondly, this is a “good” book because it has a good balance of violence. This is a good thing because it provides readers with an exciting read. We hear and even see violence in our everyday life and I believe that it is something teenagers should be exposed to. This book gives children an insig...
One of the first jarring uses of such harsh, blunt diction is in her third entry when she talks about the pattern and says the lines “suddenly commit suicide” (Gilman). She then goes on to discuss the color, calling it “repellent” and “revolting” (Gilman). She uses words similar to this throughout every entry: “atrocious”, “dreadfully depressing”, “constant irritant”, “torturing”, and “infuriating” are just a few examples (Gilman). Each one of those examples described the wallpaper. Gilman’s staggering word choice allows the reader to be able to understand and even begin to feel the same way her unnamed narrator does. She creates a disturbingly ominous mood which rattles the reader to the core. The reader doesn’t understand fully what is happening, receiving only hints from a very limited viewpoint, until the end when the pieces suddenly begin to fit together. Even then, the reader is left with an unsettling feeling and an uncertainty of what had just happened. Not only does Gilman’s word choice create a distinct feeling in the reader, but it characterizes the narrator as well. The narrator is supposedly writing all of this in a journal which means the words are her own, not the author’s. Creating an environment using such blunt, harsh language, forms an image in the reader’s mind of what type of person the narrator is. By making the narrator use this
My recommendation for this book would be that this book is just a fun read, nothing to serious. But yet it's a book were its easy to relate to were a lot of the situations that happen in the book happen in young teenage life as well. Like for example the desperation to fit in. kids will do most likely anything to be part of "the cool group" hopefully not take some sort of pill that will talk to you in your head. But other things like being pressured into talking drugs. Sneaking out of the house to go to some party and not coming back until the next day at dawn without getting caught. These days we do so much and our parents know so little.
Children have often been viewed as innocent and innocent may be a nicer way to call children naive. Since children’s lives are so worry free they lack the knowledge of how to transition from being a child to becoming an adolescent. Their lack of knowledge may be a large part of their difficulties growing up, which could be a few rough years for many. In books like the boy in the striped pajamas the story is told from the point of view of a little boy, this way we get a full view of how innocent he is. In this book the writer shows the reader first hand how a child viewed the holocaust and how his innocence cost him his life. Then in books like the perks of being a wallflower Charlie is a teen whom is struggling with the transition from being a child to becoming an adolescent. In this book the writer gives a first hand look at how difficult it can be to transition into an adolescent. Charlie has many difficulties in this book; he is in search of his identity and how to fit in.
Gilman, Charlotte. "The Yellow Wall-Paper." Literature and the Writing Process. Eds. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 1996. 105-115.
Fiction Studies 49.3 (Fall 2003): 443-468. Rpt. in Children's Literature Review. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 176. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Five teenagers who don't' know each other spend a Saturday in detention at the suburban school library. At first they squirm, fret and pick on each other. Then after sampling some marijuana, a real encounter session gets underway. The stresses and strains of adolescence have turned their inner lives into a minefield of disappointment, anger and despair.
Adolescent literature will always be challenged, as long as there are children in this world. This may be a hot topic to touch debate about whether which books are appropriate to be used in the academic environment. Though, the purpose of these debatable senses is to provide the best and proper education for young adults to maturity. Developing the best literature for young adults requires team work and trials that will improve the value of a text decided among parents, students, and teachers. Again, the selection of these adolescent literatures is to promote maturation that would prepare your kids and my kids for the reality and future situations in their lives.
“Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life” (Samuel Ullman). As teens go along in life, they learn through the things they read, hear, and see; in particular, when one reads a book, they can connect with the connotations and it can alter someone or influence. Being able to connect to something that another is feeling can really draw people in like bugs to a light. As more and more people can connect to books it becomes more popular so that they may feel a sense of security. Anthem by Ayn Rand and The Giver by Lois Lowry are two very great examples
Falconer, Rachel. The Crossover Novel: Contemporary Children’s Fiction and Its Adult Readership. New York: Routledge, 2009.
It is likely for one to assume that a classic piece of literature set in a fantasy oriented stage will have no merits to the youths of today. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, however, with its crafty of usage symbolism, displays its relevance to issues that often trouble teens. As the story progresses from a children’s tale to an epic, the main character Bilbo undergoes a series of development, his experiences often overlapping with ordinary people. Reading the Hobbit will provide teens with opportunities of exploring the importance of several common but serious topics. People may encounter many of the themes presented in the book elsewhere repeatedly, but it’s possible that they never appreciated the applications it might have on themselves. When teens read the Hobbit, they perceive it as a simple fiction of adventure. Under proper guiding, they will be able to recognize and utilize the lessons of the Hobbit, and improve their attitudes and ideas about life.