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Paper towns
by John Green

Paper Towns starts with nine-year-olds Quentin “Q” Jacobsen and Margo Roth
Spiegelman discover the corpse of Robert Joyner, a soon to be divorced man who committed
suicide in the Jefferson Park.

Nine years later, Quentin and Margo grew apart from each other considering that they are
neighbors. One night, Margo shows up in Quentin’s window with black paint on her face. She
asks Quentin to help her that night with eleven missions to get revenge on the people that
have hurt her throughout her high school years. She especially needs Quentin's car and
assistance driving. Margo convinces Quentin to take his mother’s minivan, sneak out of his
home on a school night, and help her seek revenge.

Margo takes Quentin to an adventure filled with fish, vandalizing, spray-paint, breaking into
SeaWorld, and waxing a bully’s eyebrow while sleeping. After her eleven things are
completed, Quentin is glad that he is back to being friends with Margo. The next day, Margo
never shows up to school or the next three days. Because Margo had already run away from
home, her parents are worry-free since they expect her to come back. Quentin was the last
person her parents saw her with when her father found her in Quentin house at night. A
private investigator asks some question about where Margo could have run away. He notices a
poster of Woody Guthrie taped to her bedroom shades. When her parents left home, Quentin
bribes Margo’s sister, so they can investigate her room. The poster leads them to a song called
“Walt Whitman’s Niece." The song leads them to a poem called “Song of Myself,” by Walt
Whitman. In Margo’s room, there is a copy of the poem with highlighted text. One day,
Quentin unhinges his door and finds another clue: an address. The next day, Quentin and his
friends skip school and drive to the address left by Margo. When they arrive, they find an
abandoned mall. Inside Margo left a message painted in the walls that says, “You will go to
the paper towns and you will never come back.” Quentin believes that this is Margo’s way of
confirming her suicide while his friends believe it means she was tired of her fake life.

Quentin spends a stretch of time looking for more clues with no success. On the day of his
graduation, he looks at the map of New York he found in the abandoned mall. The map has
pinholes - one of them in a place called Agloe, New York. He looks up Agloe on the Internet
and finds that Agloe is a copyright trap, and that its population rose up from zero to one - until
of May twenty-ninth. Quentin, Ben, Lacey, and Radar skip their graduation to drive to New
York to find Margo. Since he knows Margo changed the population on the site, they have to
arrive at Agloe in less than one day.

When the gang arrives in Agloe, New York, they find Margo living in a barn. Margo is
shocked to see them since the clues she left weren’t intended to find her. Angry at her
reaction, Radar, Lacey, and Ben leave the barn and check into a motel. Quentin learns that his
vision of Margo was fake - similar to the one she had been projecting to everyone else she
met. Later, Quentin tells Margo that he was mad because she made him waste his time. Margo
tells him that he really saved her because he wanted to feel like the superhero saving the girl.
He later accepts that it was obvious that he didn’t expect Margo to live the image he had of
her. They both say that they love each other and they kiss. Later, Margo tells him to come
with her to New York but Quentin tells her that he has a life back in Orlando. Margo and
Quentin say their last goodbyes and promise each other to keep in contact.
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New words explained:

Nobel Prize – Any of six international prizes awarded annually for outstanding work in physics,
chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, economics, and the promotion of peace. The Nobel
Prizes, first awarded in 1901, are decided by members of Swedish learned societies or, in the case of
the peace prize, the Norwegian Parliament.
Zombie – (in popular fiction) a person or reanimated corpse that has been turned into a creature
capable of movement but not of rational thought, which feeds on human flesh.
‘A horde of mindless zombies craving brains came to the city’
Damned- condemned by God to suffer eternal punishment in hell.
Minivan- A small van.
To giggle- Laugh lightly and repeatedly in a silly way, from amusement, nervousness, or
embarrassment.
To vandalize- Deliberately destroy or damage (public or private property)
‘Stations have been vandalized beyond recognition’
Tuxedo- A man's dinner jacket.
‘There were lots of blonde women in posh frocks and expensive-looking high heels and guys in dinner
jackets or tuxedos or whatever you call them.’
Tenant- A person who occupies land or property rented from a landlord.
Diplomacy – The profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations, typically by a
country's representatives abroad.
Sluggishness- Slow-moving or inactive.
‘a sluggish stream’
- Lacking energy or alertness.
‘Alex woke late accusing tiredness and sluggishness’
Swallow- Cause or allow (something, especially food or drink) to pass down the throat. Put up with or
meekly accept (something unwelcome)
Accustomed- Customary; usual.
Overprotective- Having a tendency to protect someone, especially a child, excessively
Resurrection- The action or fact of resurrecting or being resurrected.
Life span- The length of time for which a person or animal lives or a thing functions
Excruciatingly- To an intensely painful degree.
Aneurysm- An excessive localized swelling of the wall of an artery.
Misinterpreted- Liable to be misinterpreted; open to misinterpretation.
Hoodie- A hooded sweatshirt, jacket, or other top.
fox-trot- A ballroom dance having an uneven rhythm with alternation of slow and quick steps.
usurped – Take (a position of power or importance) illegally or by force.
badass- A tough, uncompromising, or intimidating person.
knob- A rounded lump or ball, especially at the end or on the surface of something.
chauffeur- A person employed to drive a private or hired car.
ninja- A person skilled in the Japanese art of ninjutsu.
arrest- Seize (someone) by legal authority and take them into custody. Stop or check (progress or a
process)
fatigue- Extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness.
‘He was nearly dead with fatigue’
bloodshotedness- Lustful; passionate.
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