Books like “Looking for Alaska”

What to read after “Looking for Alaska” by John Green: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson · 1999
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
Melinda begins high school as an outcast after calling the police at a summer party, and barely speaks. Through art class and small moments she slowly confronts what happened to her that night and finds the words to name it.
2
Thirteen Reasons Why
Jay Asher · 2007
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
Clay Jensen receives a box of tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, a classmate who has taken her own life. As he follows her voice around town, she explains the thirteen reasons behind her decision, and Clay learns his own place in her story.
3
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky · 1999
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Through letters to a stranger, shy teenager Charlie describes his first year of high school. He is taken in by a group of older friends who introduce him to music, love and heartbreak, even as he struggles with grief and memories he cannot fully face.
4
Fallen
Lauren Kate · 2009
Similar setting: “Boarding School”
- Boarding School
- Love Triangle
After a boy dies in a fire she cannot explain, Lucinda is sent to Sword & Cross, a bleak reform school in Savannah. There she is drawn to Daniel, a distant student she somehow knows. The shadows she has seen since childhood, and Daniel's secrets, point to a love older than her life.
5
Every Heart a Doorway
Seanan McGuire · 2016
Similar setting: “Boarding School”
Children who have returned from magical worlds struggle to readjust, so Eleanor West's home gives them somewhere to belong. When Nancy arrives from the Halls of the Dead, she finds the school hiding its own dangers and a mystery that threatens her new friends.
6
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Narrated by Death, the story follows Liesel Meminger, a girl sent to live with a foster family in Nazi Germany. She steals books, shares them with a Jewish man hiding in the basement, and grows up amid bombs, loss and small acts of kindness.
7
The School for Good and Evil
Soman Chainani · 2013
Similar setting: “Boarding School”
Every year two children are taken to the School for Good and Evil, one to train as a hero and one as a villain. Best friends Sophie and Agatha are sure they know which is which, but the school has its own plans for them.
8
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Benjamin Alire Sáenz · 2012
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
In 1987 El Paso, two Mexican American boys meet at a swimming pool and slowly become friends. Over long summers they share books, secrets and fears, and each begins to understand the love and longing he has been afraid to name.
9
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro · 2005
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
Kathy, Tommy and Ruth grow up together at an English boarding school where the children are treated as special and kept apart from the world. As adults they learn what they were made for, and try to hold on to love and dignity in a life they cannot choose. A quiet, sad speculative novel.
10
Vampire Academy
Richelle Mead · 2007
Similar setting: “Boarding School”
- Boarding School
- Love Triangle
Rose Hathaway is a dhampir, trained to guard her best friend Lissa, a Moroi vampire princess. After two years on the run, they are returned to St. Vladimir's Academy, where Rose falls for her instructor and the school's wards hide dangerous secrets.
11
They Both Die at the End
Adam Silvera · 2017
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
On the day they both receive a call saying they will die within twenty-four hours, Mateo and Rufus meet through an app for people facing their last day. The two teenagers spend it together, trying to live a lifetime in the time they have left.
12
The Astonishing Color of After
Emily X.R. Pan · 2018
Similar atmosphere: “Melancholic”
- Melancholic
- Coming of Age
After her mother's death, Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet grandparents she has never known, convinced her mother has returned as a red bird. Grief, a family silence and a friendship she left behind come together as she learns what she can and cannot hold on to.