"Before." Miles ?Pudge? Halter's whole life has been one big non-event. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-butboring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into a new life, and steals his heart. "After." Nothing is ever the same. The Printz Award?winning modern classic is now available in the successful Premium Edition format with a bonus reading guide and a letter from John Green.

Reviews

Green's young adult novel debut won him many admirers in its 2005 print incarnation, and that success is likely to be repeated with this admirable audio version-impeccably read by Jeff Woodman, a veteran actor with more than 200 audiobooks to his credit as well as lots of stage and television work. Woodman is especially good at quickly bringing to life three very different characters: Miles, a 16-year-old from a safe, middle-class Florida home; his new boarding school roommate, the angry, brilliant Chip, a scholarship student from a poor family; and most intriguing of all, the beautiful Alaska Young, a smart and funny breaker of hearts who carries some psychic scars of her own. Thanks to Woodman's skill at subtly capturing the energy, hopes and pain of these young people without resorting to vocal gimmicks, Green's insights into the impact they have on each other come across with full artistic strength. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Gr 9 Up-From the very first page, tension fills John Green's Michael L. Printz Award-winning novel (Dutton, 2005). Miles Halter, 16, is afraid that nobody will show up at his party because he doesn't have many friends. He loves to read biographies and discover the last words attributed to famous people. He's particularly intrigued with the dying words of poet Francois Rabelais: "I go to seek a great perhaps." Miles is leaving his loving Florida home for the "great perhaps" of the same Alabama boarding school attended by his father. Ominous chapter headings (40 days before, 10 days after) reveal that something tragic may happen. At school, Miles is accepted by a brainy group of pranksters led by his roommate and Alaska Young, a smart and sexy feminist. The teen becomes captivated by his new friends who spend as much energy on sex, smoking, drinking, and cutting-up as they do on reading, learning, and searching for life's meaning. As the school year progresses, Miles's crush on Alaska intensifies, even after it becomes evident that her troubled past sometimes causes her to be self-destructive. This novel is about real kids dealing with the pressures of growing up and feeling indestructible. Listeners will be riveted as the friends band together to deal with the catastrophic events that plague their junior year, and rejoice at their triumphs. Jeff Woodman clearly delineates the voices for each character in an age-appropriate, smart-alecky manner, injecting great emotion while managing not to be overly sentimental. This story belongs in all collections for older young adults, especially those who like Chris Crutcher, David Klass, and Terry Trueman.-JoAnn Carhart, East Islip Public Library, NY Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

?Alive with sweet, self-deprecating humor. . . . Like Phineas in John Knowles's A Separate Peace, Green draws Alaska . . . lovingly, in self-loathing darkness as well as energetic light.?"?School Library Journal", starred review