Miles Halter is tired of his boring and lonely life at home in Florida, so he decides to go a boarding school in Alabama, hoping that a new beginning might give him a new impetus. At the boarding school he makes friends with a group of youngsters - including the beautiful and intelligent yet unhappy Alaska Young - who open a whole new world for him.
Looking for Alaska is a novel about adolescents in their final years at school who are discovering friendship, love and desire, and learning how trust, responsibility, grief and loss are an integral part of human experience.

Letter from Miles to his parents

Dear Mum and Dad,

How are you today? I'm fine and I think you're glad to hear that I will come home over Christmas. I don't know the exact date of my visit but I'm looking foreward to call you when I know it. I have to tell you from the great Thanksgiving I had. The Colonel invited Alaska and me to his mums house. You know the Colonel, he's my roommate and meanwhile my friend. So we spent Thanksgiving at home by the Colonel, maybe I have to say that his mum is living in a trailer and not in a normal house. The Colonels mum is so lovely and funny, she cooked for us (much better than the meal at Culver Creak) and I enjoyed this very much. So you don't have to worry about my health and my condition.

School is stressful but I try to learn as much as I can. I discover my interest for religion and thinking about the sense of life. I'm sure you have noticed that I have developed myself much this time at Culver Creak. All the other things that happend I tell you by my visite.

Love, Miles