Annotation: When high school senior Quentin Jacobsen reunites with his childhood sweetheart for a rowdy night of mischief, it sets off a chain of events that results in an intense analysis of the purpose of life, friendships, and destiny.
Justification for Nomination: John Green has produced another winning teen novel. As in Looking for Alaska, there's the protagonist who is geeky and doesn't really fit into the in crowd at school, there's the strong and crazy female love interest who is off in her own world, and there are the protagonist's side-kick friends. Quentin Jacobsen's long time love interest, his neighbor Margo, shows up at his window one night and forces him to go out on an all night prank playing excursion. When Margo doesn't show up at school the next morning, just weeks before they graduate, Quentin becomes concerned and the rest of the novel is devoted to his search for her.
The mystery element is definitely in the book. When they were younger, Quentin and Margo discovered a dead body in the local park, and that event is somewhat weaved throughout the story. When Margo goes missing, Quentin realizes that he really needs to find her and figure out why she left. There are long parts of the book where Quentin analyzes his feelings towards Margo, every scrap of paper he finds, and when he goes and looks in pseudovisions for her and those parts can make the reader skip ahead. But, where the novel shines, is in the large amount of time he spends philosophizing Whitman's poetry and in the really excellent humor that Green adds. When four of them take off on a long road trip to track Margo down, there are some scenes that will have the reader in stitches.
This novel will definitely be a good read for the more sophisticated teen, as the parts about Whitman's poetry are fairly elaborate, and the mystery in itself is not that gripping. The relationships that are developed will resonate with the readers, and the adventure that they have on their road trip will entertain. It's a solid coming of age novel with a mystery thrown in for variety.
Genre: mystery, coming of age
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