Rationale: Paper Towns
Green, J. (2008). Paper Towns. Dutton Books for Young Readers.
Age Range: 14 and up Grade Range: Gr 9 and up
Summary:
Quentin Jacobsen has been in love with his next door neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman, since they were kids. They were best friends back then. Now they’re seniors in high school, about to graduate, and Margo Roth Siegelman has been running with the popular crowd for the last few years, leaving Q behind with his band geek friends. But then Margo climbs through his window late one night and tells him she needs his help, specifically his car. They sneak out and spend the night executing revenge pranks and wild escapades that include breaking into Sea World and contemplating Orlando’s “paper town” nature on the rooftop of a downtown office building. The night ends with a kiss, and Q thinks his dreams of Margo Roth Spiegelman being his girlfriend may have finally come true. But the next day she disappears. Again. She’s done this before, but this time she stays away. Q finds clues that he believes she left for him, so he and his quirky band of friends—Radar, Ben, and Margo’s friend Lacey—embark on solving the mystery of where she went, often fearing the worst. On graduation day, Q solves the mystery at the eleventh hour and the crew set off on a 24-hr road trip to try to get to her in time. When they do find her, Q realizes that he has been misimagining her all these years. They share a day of closure together before going their separate ways, and Q reflects on how our views of people can be so off base and how the consequence can be extreme. The story is full of Green’s signature zany characters that leave you laughing out loud, and profound reflection that keeps you thinking beyond the end of the book.
Value
Paper Towns, much like Alaska, draws teenagers as intelligent, deeply thinking people—if still young and prone to the (often hilarious) impulsivity of youth—and demonstrates Green’s characteristic respect for adolescents. This novel is lighter than Alaska, and while it threatens tragedy, and uses that as a vehicle to explore themes of how we “imagine and misimagine” people, it does not end in the death of a main character. Instead, it delivers an ending which serves to help Q understand how he failed to see Margo for who she really is, and how Margo herself was exhausted by trying to be someone she was not. The story is an examination of our perceptions of others, a topic that is certainly critical to us all.
Potential Problems
Issues that have led, and may lead, to objections and challenges in the current climate include language, portrayals of teen sex, drinking, running away, and defying authority.
Paper Towns was challenged or banned fourteen times during the 2023-2024 school year, according to PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans. Nine of these ended in confirmed district-wide bans, ten were initiated solely by the administration and two were formal challenges. Five challenges/bans occurred in Florida, eight in Iowa, and one in Wisconsin.
Reviews
“Printz Medal Winner and Honoree Green knows what he does best and delivers once again with this satisfying, crowd-pleasing look at a complex, smart boy and the way he loves. Quentin (Q) has loved Margo Roth Spiegelman since they were kids riding their bikes, but after they discovered the body of a local suicide they never really spoke again. Now it’s senior year; Margo is a legend and Q isn’t even a band geek (although quirky best friends Ben and Radar are). Then Margo takes Q on a midnight adventure and disappears, leaving convoluted clues for Q. The clues lead to Margo’s physical location but also allow Q to see her as a person and not an ideal. Genuine—and genuinely funny—dialogue, a satisfyingly tangled but not unbelievable mystery and delightful secondary characters (Radar’s parents collect black Santas)—we’ve trod this territory before, but who cares when it’s this enjoyable? Lighter than Looking for Alaska (2005), deeper than An Abundance of Katherines (2006) and reminiscent of Gregory Galloway’s As Simple as Snow (2005)”—a winning combination.(Mystery. 13 & up) —Kirkus
“Paper Towns is gripping, thought-provoking and witty. It uses the by now familiar world of high school, teenage angst and rivalries as a springboard into more existential territory. It will entertain mid to older teens and extend their expectations of fiction. An outstanding novel.” —School Librarian
“Green's prose is astounding-from hilarious, hyperintellectual trash talk and shtick, to complex philosophizing, to devastating observation and truths. He nails it-exactly how a thing feels, looks, affects-page after page. The mystery of Margo-her disappearance and her personhood-is fascinating, cleverly constructed, and profoundly moving. Creen builds tension through both the twists of the active plot and the gravitas of the subject. He skirts the stock coming-of-age character arc-Quentin's eventual bravery is not the revelation. Instead, the teen thinks deeper and harder-about the beautiful and terrifying ways we ean and cannot know those we love. Less-sophisticated readers may get lost in Quentin's copious transcendental ruminations-give Paper Towns to your sharpest teens.” —SLJ
Awards
2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery
2000 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adult Mystery
2009 YALSA Teen Top Ten Selection
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award
Arizona Grand Canyon Reader Award
Connecticut Teen Nutmeg Book Award
See Book Resume for more awards
Alternate Titles
As Simple as Snow by Gregory Galloway
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Additional Resources
An Educator’s Guide to the Works of John Green
Paper Towns - Unite Against Book Bans - Book Résumés
Additional Tools:
Literature Map - The Tourist Map of Literature
“It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined.” — John Green, Paper Towns (2008)