Looking for Alaska

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The characters have different interests and specific talents, like Alaska tutoring math and the Colonel memorizing country capitals.

• Choose a character to focus on. How does this character’s specific interests and talents reveal character traits central to that character? (topic sentence)
• Include at least three quotations and reasoning to build your analysis.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, explain how these talents and hobbies help the character connect to their friends.

2. A central theme in the novel is Guilt and Forgiveness.

• Decide on a character to analyze. How does that character face guilt and find forgiveness? (topic sentence)
• Incorporate at least three details and then analyze each to support your ideas.
• In your conclusion, provide a lesson readers can learn from this character’s journey.

3. In different ways, characters explore loyalty, from discussion about who gave the Eagle information to how characters work to help each other.

• How would you compare and contrast Miles’s and Alaska’s views on loyalty? (topic sentence)
• As you write, use at least three specific details and reasoning to build your analysis.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, evaluate which character’s ideas on loyalty you most agree with and explain.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the labyrinth and the quote from Bolívar: “How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?” (Chapter 2). Throughout the book, characters refer to the labyrinth, beginning with Alaska’s explanation of why it fascinates her. How does the quote from Bolívar drive the themes of the novel of Guilt and Forgiveness, Friendship and Loyalty, or Religion and Philosophy? Where do we see characters applying this quote? What does the labyrinth symbolize?

2. Reflect on the friends playing Best Day/Worst Day. How does John Green reveal key character traits through this scene? What new details do readers learn about characters? How do those specifics drive character motivation? What reactions do the other characters have as they learn about their friends?