Paper Towns
by John Green
★ Top 10 book of 2008 · #10 on Best Books of 2008
Quentin Jacobsen is content with his dull routine a month before graduation, until his neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman pulls him into a midnight adventure. Soon afterward she vanishes, leaving him with a mystery.
Best for: Teen readers who enjoy high school stories mixing adventure, romance, and a missing-girl mystery
Paper Towns is #10 on BookWard's Best Books of 2008, out of 46 2008 books that cleared our data bar.
What Paper Towns is about
Quentin Jacobsen has spent years quietly fascinated by his neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman. As kids, they once found something frightening together in their neighborhood park, and the memory still ties them. Now Quentin is a senior at Winter Park High School, living in a suburban Orlando subdivision, with his friends Ben and Radar beside him.
One night, a month before graduation, Margo climbs through his window and recruits him as her driver for an elaborate plan of payback against people who wronged her. Then she vanishes, and Quentin starts following the clues she seems to have left behind, among them a highlighted book of poetry and a mention of "paper towns."
Part mystery, part coming-of-age story, it is wry and a little bittersweet. John Green asks how well we ever know another person, and how easily we replace someone real with the image we have of them.
Paper Towns on the Best Books of 2008
Paper Towns came out in 2008. Of the 46 books first published in 2008 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #10 on our Best Books of 2008 list.
Why it made the list: 758 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (77 ratings); 34 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2008 list
- Thinking in Systems Donella H. Meadows, #8
- The Hero of Ages Brandon Sanderson, #9
- Just After Sunset Stephen King, #11
- What Every BODY Is Saying Joe Navarro, #12
See all Best Books of 2008 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2007 Best Books of 2009.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 591 want to read it, 34 are reading it now and 133 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.8 out of 5 from 77 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 91 | 55% |
| Reader love | 22 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 87 | 20% |
Questions about Paper Towns
When was Paper Towns published?
Paper Towns by John Green was first published in 2008.
Was Paper Towns one of the best books of 2008?
Paper Towns is #10 on BookWard's Best Books of 2008, out of 46 2008 books that cleared our data bar. 758 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (77 ratings); 34 are reading it right now.
Why is Paper Towns on the Best Books of 2008 list?
758 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (77 ratings); 34 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 2008
- The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins, #1
- End of Days Sylvia Browne, #2
- The Last Straw Jeff Kinney, #3
- Amulet Kazu Kibuishi, #4
- Outliers Malcolm Gladwell, #5
- Michelle Obama in Her Own Words Michelle Obama, #6
See the full Best Books of 2008, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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