Looking for Alaska

This young adult novel by John Green (not to be confused with the 2001 nonfiction title about the state by Peter Jenkins--also a good read, I might add) won this year's Prinz Award for best YA literature. A teen boy, Miles, attends a boarding school in the South and is taken under the wing of Chip, his roommate, and Alaska Young, a wild young girl who lives life with a recklessness that fascinates Miles. Reading this as an adult, I found some of the situations similar to many coming of age in a private school novels and, thus, somewhat predictable. Teens will, however, be taken in by, for instance, the constant rivalry, complete with pranks, between the haves and the have-nots. But Green has some surprises even for adults making it worthwhile reading for both adults and mature teens.