John Green's novel Looking for Alaska tells the story of Miles Halter, a shy teenager who transfers to Culver Creek Boarding School for his junior year of high school, in search of " Big Maybe.” . His roommate, Chip Martin, "The Colonel" takes Miles under his wing and nicknames him Pudge. Miles introduces him to the erratic lifestyle of smoking, drinking, pranks and Alaska Young. Alaska Young is witty, brooding, beautiful and self-destructive, and Pudge is attracted to her. When some week warriors drag Pudge out of his bed, cover him in duct tape and throw him in a lake, and urinate in the Colonel's shoes. The Colonel promised to take revenge on them. The Week Warriors raped Pudge and urinated in the Colonel's shoes because they thought the Colonel yelled at problem students Paul and Marya. Alaska later admits to blaming Paul and Marya to avoid expulsion for sneaking off campus in the middle of the night and being in possession of alcohol (Green 73). Alaska, Pudge and the Colonel plot their revenge against the Week Warriors by putting blue hair dye in the Week Warriors' shampoo and hair gel bottles and posting false progress reports to the Week Warriors' parents. week, convincing them that they are failing. One night, after drinking with the Colonel and kissing Pudge, Alaska breaks down crying. She leaves campus and dies in a car accident. Alaska's friends are overwhelmed with guilt and grief. They become obsessed with finding out where she was driving with white flowers in her car in the middle of the night. Alaska's friends had to come to terms with their guilt and grief and accept that they will never know whether the sinking was intentional or not. There are several ...... middle of paper ...... by Pudge's emotions and thoughts. The manner in which information is concealed, like the nature of the Barn Night (99) farce, keeps the reader turning the pages. The countdown to the unknown and critical event of Alaska's death builds suspense, and the literary references to the maze (19) and Frost's poem (10) foreshadow Pudge and the Colonel's later struggle to rise above tragedy. The setting allows for a shift away from parental influence, so that Alaska, Pudge, and the Colonel are responsible for their own struggles, failures, and accomplishments. These literary elements combine to create a coming-of-age story that will appeal to anyone who has ever struggled to escape a maze, whether that maze is one of heartbreak, guilt, adolescence or from high school. This ability to appeal to such a wide audience justifies the novel's placement on the Printz Awards list...