Green, John.
PAPER TOWNS
New York : Dutton, 2008
IL YA
ISBN 0525478183

(2 booktalks)

Quentin "Q" Jacobsen has had an unrequited crush on Margo Roth Spiegelman, his next–door neighbor, since they were kids. Now, with high school graduation just weeks away, Margo recruits Q to be her accomplice on an epic night of pranking and score–settling. The next day, Margo vanishes. Did she simply run away, Q wonders, or did the outrageous adventures of Margo Roth Spiegelman came to a suicidal end? A trail of clues that Margo seemingly left just for him leads Q to a Woody Guthrie poster, a Walt Whitman poem, an abandoned mini–mall, and Orlando's many "paper towns" (labyrinthine subdivisions that were planned but never built). All the while, Margo stays just out of reach. Finally, sure that he's cracked the final cryptic clue, Q and three friends race against time on an all–night road trip that is by turns hilarious and heart–stopping. John Green, the author of Looking for Alaska, delivers another gripping coming–of–age novel about an elusive girl who only seems too good to be true.

Booktalk #2

Quentin goes on a midnight adventure with the amazing Margo, his next-door neighbor for whom he has had a crush since childhood. Right after that, Margo mysteriously disappears and Q spends his last couple of weeks of high school hunting down clues that take him to deserted buildings and on an unexpected road trip. Although this is a book with a serious theme, the dialogue is witty and there are definitely some laugh-out-loud moments with Q and his friends.   (Rhode Island Teen Book Award nominee, 2010)