About This Lesson
This lesson plan is a two week unit plan that is meant to discuss the arguments of why books should/shouldn't be banned and why, and also about death and last words.
The Unit introduces students to censorship and how challenges to books occur. They are invited to read Looking for Alaska, a young adult novel that the most challenged book on the American Library Association's List of Challenged Books. Students decide for themselves what should be done with this book by writing a persuasive essay explaining their perspectives.
Book summary from PEN America:
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A modern classic, this stunning debut marked #1 bestselling author John Green’s arrival as a groundbreaking new voice in contemporary fiction.
