Despite the 16+ rating, I read this book when I was 11 years old. I think that everyone should read this, especially teenagers. And yes, it's on the banned booklist, but this is a book aimed at the YA crowd for YA readers, so saying that teens can't read about other teens facing the same problems they might face sort of defeats the purpose. Like all John Green books, it is written beautifully. The characters are fully developed and the description is stunning. As for the 14+ rating, I this is the rating if you read it alone. If you read this book with a parent (like I did) I think a younger age would be suitable. For additional warnings for parents, I would say this: There is lots of swearing. There is heavy romance. There is a good amount of drinking/drugs/smoking. However, without these, this book would be entirely different - and probably not as powerful. Everything that might offend people is there for a reason. As for the actual story, it's about Miles Halter, who is fascinated by last words, and how he goes to a boarding school and meets Alaska Young. Overall, I think this book deserves five stars. It's no wonder it won an award. "Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (. ) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.” - Looking for Alaska
