Looking for Alaska

Chapters 1-10

Reading Check

1. Culver Creek (Chapter 1)

2. Country capitals (Chapter 2)

3. The Colonel (Chapter 2)

4. Simón Bolívar’s “How will ever get out of this labyrinth?” (Chapter 2)

5. Dr. Hyde (Chapter 4)

6. Rapping (Chapter 6)

7. 37 (Chapter 7)

8. Pre-calculus (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. His father went to Culver Creek, and Miles is “seeking a Great Perhaps.” (Chapter 1)

2. The Weekday Warriors are students at Culver Creek with more money, who go home on weekends. Alaska, the Colonel, and Takumi have disdain and some competitiveness with the Weekday Warriors. (Chapters 2-5)

3. Alaska chose her name. She looked at a map and chose a place far away, Alaska. (Chapter 10)

Chapters 11-20

Reading Check

1. Smoking (Chapter 11)

2. Alaska (Chapter 13)

3. At the basketball game (Chapter 14)

4. The Weekday Warriors (Chapter 16)

5. Suffering (Chapter 19)

6. Their hair (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. Alaska isolates after the date. Then she acts sullen and does not want to talk when Miles finds her. (Chapters 15-16)

2. Miles reflects that Alaska refused to tell on her friends at Jury to show she could be trusted and to demonstrate what she expected from Miles. (Chapter 17)

Chaptes 21-30

Reading Check

1. Barn Night (Chapter 27)

2. Alaska, the Colonel, Takumi, Lara, and Miles (Chapter 28)

3. A goose (Chapter 28)

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Alaska and the Colonel plan a pre-prank, so the Eagle thinks the big prank is finished and will be less suspicious. That will give the friends more freedom to perform pranks. (Chapter 26)

2. Alaska reveals her mother died in front of her, and Alaska was too scared to do anything to try to help like call 911. She is still filled with guilt. (Chapter 29)

Chapters 31-40

Reading Check

1. Alaska (Chapter 32)

2. Country populations (Chapter 34)

3. “How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” (Chapter 37)

Short Answer

1. Miles and the Colonel feel guilty because they helped Alaska drive away on the night she died. They did so for different reasons, and they did not know she would crash, but they blame themselves. (Chapters 31-40)

2. The Colonel feels angry longer, while Miles starts to feel that anger is not helpful. The Colonel is also mad that other students are acting sad about Alaska’s death, feeling they were not close enough to her; Miles believes all the students have the right to be sad. (Chapter 31-40)

Chapters 41-50

Reading Check

1. Out of guilt (Chapters 42-43)

2. Jake (Chapters 44-45)

3. To see Jake (Chapter 45)

4. Lara (Chapter 48)

5. Flowers (Chapter 50)

Short Answer

1. Takumi finds it difficult to talk about, summing it up with, “It sucks, huh?” He tells Miles he misses Alaska and is upset with the distance between himself and Miles and the Colonel. (Chapter 42)

2. As the friends throw cigarettes into the water at the Smoking Hole to honor Alaska, Miles sees the importance of the ritual in keeping the memory of the person alive. (Chapter 48)

Chapters 51-58

Reading Check

1. Alaska (Chapter 53)

2. Hug each other and cry (Chapter 55)

3. As they are all leaving Culver Creek for the summer (Chapter 58)

Short Answer

1. The Eagle stops the stripper in the prank, and afterward tells Miles and his friends he knows they were behind it and to never do that again. He adds, though, that Alaska would have loved the idea and to focus on “Subverting the Patriarchal Paradigm.” The Eagle reveals he cares about the students beyond the rules. (Chapter 53)

2. Alaska’s mom put white flowers in Alaska’s hair when Alaska was younger. As she drew the flower on the phone the night she died, she realized she had missed the anniversary of her mom’s death, which upset her. She drove off and crashed soon after. Later Takumi reveals he saw Alaska looking for flowers before she drove away, and she explained she usually put flowers on her mom’s grave. (Chapters 54, 58)

3. Takumi waited to tell Miles and the Colonel about seeing Alaska because he felt angry they were shutting him out and he felt like having a secret too. He also felt guilty about letting Alaska drive away that night. (Chapter 58)