Paper Towns
Young Adult Fiction/Mystery
Dutton Penguin
October 16, 2008
300
The book “Paper Towns” written by John Green tells the story of a boy, Quentin Jacobsen who admires a girl, Margo Roth Spiegelman from a distance. Quentin and Margo are the main characters, but their friends include, Lacey, Radar, and Ben. It is set in Orlando, Florida, and in New York City towards the end of the book, all in present day. On one night, when Quentin discovers Margo seeks a night of revenge and adventure, and she asks him to come along, he agrees. On this night, he discovers how mysterious and optimistic Margo is. The day after Quentin agrees to help Margo with her revenge, she does not make a presence at school. It is the last month of their senior year in high school, and now her family and friends are stressed. This is the main conflict. Quentin spends weeks looking for Margo and using clues and maps to help him find her. The climax in this story is when on the day of graduation, Quentin jumps in his car with Lacey, Ben, and Radar, and drives to New York City. This moment is pivotal because it gives the reader hope or discourage if whether or not they will find Margo. The resolution is when Quentin does or does not find her and gets to talk to her or not. But I will not give that away.
MY OPINION:
People had recommended this book to me, so I was excited to read it. I had only read one of John Green’s book, which was “The Fault in our Stars” and I thoroughly enjoyed it. John uses very sophisticated grammar and vocabulary through his character’s personalities. In this particular book, there was a great amount of words I did not know of and the grammar was sophisticated in some of the characters. Along the lines of a weakness, this story uses a lot of curse words and some inappropriate language. Although the age group I would recommend this book to is older middle schoolers and young high schoolers. I would suspect this age group should understand and be okay with the language. If I were to go back in time, I would possibly read this book. If no one recommended it, I would most likely never read it, let alone hear of it. Out of a rating of ten, I would give “Paper Towns” an 8.75.
STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:
FIRST SECTION
1. Why did Ben tell Quentin that Radar’s parents are not overprotective and not tell Radar’s girlfriend?1a. Because Radar is embarrassed of his parents.
2. Why did Quentin tell himself that he didn’t have a chance with Margo even if he was confident?
2a. Because he doesn’t have faith that they could be together.3. Why did Chuck always mentally/physically hurt Quentin?
3a. No specific reason.
4. Why did Margo say it wouldn’t be possible to hang out with Quentin and his friends?
4a. Because Margo skipped school and went missing after the night.
5. Why did Margo skip school?
5a. No one knew but later in the story, they find out.
accommodate (pg. 11)
adorned (pg. 22)
lament (pg. 61)
depilated (pg. 62)
moat (pg. 78)
MIDDLE SECTION
6. When is Margo returning?
6a. Everyone suspects “soon” and the real answer is revealed later.
7. If Margo was away, why does she leave clues that lead to where she is?
7a. She seeks attention and adventure.
8. What is Quentin going to say to Margo if he see’s her?
8a. He’s not sure.
9. What does “generally more than the rest of us” mean?
9a. Quentin means that Margo is more real and risky than everyone else.
10. Why did quentin only stay friends with Ben all these years if their friendship was only convenient?10a. Because Ben didn’t have a “better choice”.
narcissistic (pg. 106)
conspiratorially (pg. 111)
cummerbund (pg. 122)
pleat (pg. 122)
basset (pg. 140)
LAST SECTION
11. What does Quentin mean when he turns down playing resurrection and says he is “closer than before”?
11a. He’s even closer to finding out who Margo is as a person.
12. Did Radar create the plug-in that can track places?
12a. Yes.
13. Why are Lacey, Radar, Ben going to New York with Quentin?
13a. They want to find and see Margo as well.
14. What is Bluefin?
14a. It is an energy drink.
15. Why can’t Margo go back to Orlando?
15a. Because she will get sucked back into the paper and the fakeness of the paper town and she won’t be able to leave.
matryoshka (pg. 212)
perverse (pg. 228)
albatross (pg. 232)
optimistic (pg. 258)
fictitious (pg. 196)