The Book Earthworms' Book 1: Paper Towns by John Green

"Here’s what’s not beautiful about it: from here, you can’t see the rust or the cracked paint or whatever, but you can tell what the place really is. You see how fake it all is. It’s not even hard enough to be made out of plastic. It’s a paper town."

-Margo Roth Spiegelman, Paper Towns

         For our literary circle's first book, The Book Earthworms has chosen Paper Towns by the best-selling and renowned author John Green. I believe it was a good choice to jump start the semester. As they say, no one beats the first. It was my first time to read a John Green book and I've found it interesting that not only I but my groupmates as well has related to this catchy book with a very catchy title.

Ronald II E. Surilla, Discussion Director

Our discussion director, Ronald II E. Surilla has given us the following questions as guide to the group's discourse:

1.What does Paper Town mean in the story?

-there could be more than one definition to the term "Paper Town" because it was used in various ways in the novel, but our group formulated a single meaning out of those definitions. Paper Town is the term for the quality of being fake of a place as reflected by the fake people inhabiting it.

2.Why do you think Margo picks Q as her accomplice on her revenge?

-We think Margo chose Q to be accomplice on her revenge because she wanted to "create in Q at least an echo of the kick-ass hero of her little-kid story" written when she was ten, pehaps to revise Q's image from being a "Scaredy-cat" (as she call him) to becoming a knight in shining armour.

3.If you had to choose between Ben and Radar, who would you want to pick as your bestfriend? Why?

-Perhaps the most difficult thing in friendship is having to choose between your two best friends. As possible, we want to keep them both. But if to choose only one, we would choose Radar. Radar, unlike Ben, would be there for Q even if it means leaving his girlfriend behind. Radar and Quentin also have similarities that would keep them together like both of them are wise and think critically as they look for clues, although it's very obvious that Radar is a geek and Q is not.

4.Do you think Margo wants to be found? Do you think Margo wants to be found by Q?

-We believe NO. Margo was in fact upset because Q and his friends traced her. Whenever Margo goes missing, she leaves clues, but those clues always seem to lead to nowhere. In short, dead end. No one could trace her, except for Q's team who went so obssessed on following those clues.

5. If you're in the place of Q, will you spend your last weeks in highschool enjoying it or you will find Margo the rest of the weeks?

-Missing Margo, one of the reasons why a guy who was one of the centers of bullying goes to school was no different from not joining his batch in enjoying the last weeks of class. So If I were to be put in Q's place, I would do the same thing he did. I would find Margo.

Ryan Mark Catanio, Passage Picker

Our passage picker, Ryan Mark Catanio has given us this passage:

Here is Ryan's explanation of his given passage:

            "In the page 278, when Q (Quentin) saw Margo for the first time after she leave her house, he realized that he didn’t know Margo yet; that there is something he needs to see; that he was expecting too much to Margo; that there is a difference between “just Margo” (present and real) and “Margo Roth Spiegelman” (past and fake). And by that, Q was pissed to Margo for being vague, but the most importantly; he was pissed to himself, having the idea of him in-love with Margo Roth Spiegelman without seeing who the real Margo is.  As Margo walks toward Q, Q taught to himself that it is a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person. And that is for him was unfair and inhuman to Margo’s side.

         In my opinion, the quote “What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person” signifies that it is a betrayal to our humanity when we think that we are more human. That makes sense for me, as if it free us from hanging to pretend to live up to the impossible expectation which is our society is throwing at us. Pretending to walk on water was pain.

      This also applies in education, when some teachers is expecting too much from their students catching up to their unreachable standards of learning, which will make their students to become a computer than a being human."

For me, it just saddening to find out that our passage picker has chosen only one passage. I believe that there has to be more than one passage because there are a lot of good lines from the novel. Knowing how brillantly John Green has crafted the novel, I expected that there would be many passages to be picked and discussed by the group that would be as significant as the one aforementioned.

Anyway, for me, the line “What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person” seems to introduce the turning point of the novel where Q finally realizes that the Margo he expected to be turned out to be a different Margo. It was, in fact, the REAL Margo. I believe that it becomes the lesson of the novel. No matter how much we know a person or no matter how long we stay with them, we should not let them live with our expectations, because as separate individuals, they deserve to have free will, emotion, opinion and the right to build their own character in their own way. No pretentions. For if we did, we are like enclosing them in a glass box where their actions are limited as if there were giant eyes scrutinizing their every move.

Elaiza A. Tero, Connector

Our connector, Elaiza A. Tero has chosen the song Paper roses by Marie Osmond to connect with the novel.

Paper roses

I realized the way your eyes deceived me
with tender looks that I mistook for love
So take away the flowers that you gave me
And send the kind that you remind me of
Paper Roses
Paper Roses
Oh how real those roses seem to be
But they're only imitation,
Like you imitation love for me
I thought that you would be a perfect lover
You seemed so full of sweetness at the start
But like a big red rose that's made of paper
There isn't any sweetness in your heart
Paper Roses
Paper Roses
Oh how real those roses seem to be
But they're only imitation like you imitation love for me

I find this song perfect match for novel, not only because of its title but also because of its substance. Paper Towns talks about the falseness of the people in the world and how other people "fold" Margo to be somebody they expected her to be, while Paper Roses talks about deceitful or imitation love. There was no difference in terms of thought. Both of them talk about dishonesty.

Jermaine L. Dela Cruz, Character Captain

I, Jermaine L. Dela Cruz, had been the good and positive group member until I was assigned to become the group's character captain. Then I was left with no choice but to scutinize some characters and found out their positive and negative points.

1. Quentin “Q” Jacobsen- The protagonist and narrator of the story. Has had a crush on his neighbor Margo since they were kids, however that crush develops and before long Q realizes he's in love with Margo. Throughout the story he follows clues he thinks Margo, who has gone missing, left behind for him to help him find her. He soon becomes obsessed with finding these clues and recruits his friends to help him find Margo.

Q, a typical high school student who belongs to the group of teens in school who are often the subject of bullying and mostly left out, can be described as milquetoast, inquisitive and faithful.

            • Milquetoast is somebody regarded as timid or submissive, especially a man.

            Q is a milquetoast because when Margo asked him to become her accomplice in seeking revenge to those she thought to have offended her, he agreed to go and whatever Margo told him to do, he couldn't complain and obeyed her instead.

            • Q's inquisitiveness developed when he discovered that every time Margo disappears, she leaves clues which no one could decipher. He soon tried to find clues on her latest vanishing and when he had found one, he pursued it which followed a series of clues which later on led him to Margo.

            • Q is faithful to his friends. It very obvious that among the three of them, Q is the one closest to normal. Despite the weirdness of his friends, Q remained loyal to their friendship which eventually helped him in his pursuit of his one great love.

2. Margo Roth Spiegelman- Margo is a self described Paper Girl who runs away from home only to be pursued by her childhood friend, Q. Her pet dog, Myrna Mountweazel, is a reference to Lillian Virginia Mountweazel,[5] a woman who never existed, but was listed in the 1975 edition of the New Columbia Encyclopedia.

Margo can be best describe as mysterious, clever, and ungrateful.

            • Margo is undeniably mysterious. Her strangeness is incomparable. In other words, it isn't easy to understand her.

            • For me clever is the best word to describe Margo. She is clever in many ways. There wouldn't be a story without her shrewdness.

            • Margo is ungrateful. After driving from Orlando, Florida to Agloe, New York in twenty-four hours, Q and his friends  found Margo living in an old dilapidated barn. But instead of being grateful for them finding her, she reacted negatively. Margo had not intended for them to find her.

3. Ben Starling- He is one of Quentin's best friends. He is in the school band and also helps Quentin find Margo, and in the process, becomes Lacey's boyfriend. Towards the beginning of the book, Ben has an obsession with prom and refers to girls as "honeybunnies". Ben is pervert, funny and like Q, he is loyal to their friendship.

4. Marcus “Radar”- One of Q’s best friends. In the novel he is constantly editing pages on a website called Omnictionary (which is very similar to Wikipedia). He was nicknamed by Quentin and Ben after the character from M*A*S*H. His parents own the world's largest collection of black Santas. He is in the school band. He assists Quentin in finding Margo. Radar is geeky (from the word geek which means somebody who is a proud or enthusiastic user of computers or other technology, sometimes to an excessive degree), reliable and loyal to their friendship.

John Salvador D. Demdam, Artistic Adventurer

A Paper Poem

by a Paper boy and a Poetic girl

I don't mind, living in a world full of paper clips,

Where paper people with paper houses talk with their paper lips.

Real may they seem in the eyes of many,

Looking inside them, they're all half-empty.

I've known a princess from a paper castle,

A paper maiden with a paper battle.

To paper enemies she sought for vengeance,

She did it all because of grievance.

In some ways paper people made some mistakes

That will let themeselves to be fake

But paper people may also be real people

They may haughty, arrogant but meek and humble.

It's time to end this paper poem,

Written on a paper in a paper home.

Paper poems are made by paper people,

And read by the readers either it's bare or ample.

John did great in playing with the words. It certainly is very suitable to the novel and has many good points. I personally love the first stanza and the third stanza which tells us that no matter how fake people may become, they are still human beings with feelings and weaknesses.

Hara Vessa A. Escabarte, Vocabulary nricher

Our group's vocabulary enricher is Hara Vessa A. Escabarte.

Here's her work:

Chapter and Paragraph Number	Word		Definition	Importance or Relevance to the Story
Ch. 1, Paragraph 5	Morosely		[muh-rohs] (adv.) very serious, unhappy and quiet	Describes the way Radar inform Q about he was going on the prom.
Ch. 1, Paragraph 43	Sluggishness		[sluhg-ish] (n.) moving slowly or lazily	The way that Q describes the clocks, when he gets bored.
Ch. 2, Paragraph 1	Swiveled		[swiv-uhl] (v.) to turn around	Q’s movement, when he heard the window open and saw Margo.
Ch. 3,  Paragraph 10	Felonies		[fel-uh-nee] (n.) a serious crime	Q’s interpretation on Margo when she enters through the window of Q’s room.
Ch. 3, Paragraph 25	Honk		[hongk, hawngk] (n.) to make a loud sound	Q’s interpretation in Margo blowing the horn excruciatingly.
Chapters; 2, 3, 26	Aneurysm		[an-yuh-riz-uhm] (n.) an abnormal blood-filled bulge of a blood vessel and especially an artery resulting from weakening (as from disease) of the vessel wall.	A term used by John Green in the book referring to someone’s common characteristic.
Chapter; 2 and 4	Somersault		[suhm-er-sawlt] (n.) a forward or backward movement of your body on the ground or in the air that is made by bringing your feet over your head.	Used in the passage as a movement or a motion acted by Q.
Chapters; 4, 18 and 21		Labyrinth	[lab-uh-rinth] (n.) something that is extremely complicated or difficult to understand; a place that has many confusing paths or passages	Used to describe an appearance of the ff: Place (C. 4) Book’s arrangement (C. 18) Shelves (C. 21 “Labyrinthine”)
Chapters; 4 and 41		Jugular	[juhg-yuh-ler, joo-gyuh-] (adj.) relating to the throat	Referring to Q’s specific part of the body.
Chapters; 5. 19		Skunk	[skuhngk] (n.) an obnoxious or disliked person	Used to describe obnoxious something.
Chapter 5, Paragraph 19		Monstrosity	[mon-stros-i-tee] (n.) something (such as a building) that is very large and ugly	Q’s word for the house structure of Jase.
Chapter 5, Paragraph 30		Deign	[deyn] (v.) to do something that you think you should not have to do because you are too important.	Q’s in silent interaction with Margo about what lacey would do to him.
Chapter 5, Paragraph 44		Jimmy	(v.) to force (something such as a lock, door or window) open with a metal bar or a similartool	The term used by Q describing what Margo did on the front door of Lacey’s car.
Chapters; 6 and 19		Cul-de-sacs	(n.) a street that is designed to another street only at one end	Used to describes a pathway appearance
Chapter 6, Paragraph 34		Bum	(n.) a drinking spree	Margo’s term for the paper kids drinking stuff.
Chapters 7		Wrath	(n.) strong vengeful anger or indignation	A feeling of angriness used by Margo and Q
Chapter 7, Paragraph 8		Czarist	(n.) Government of Russia, autocratic rule	Q used to describe Russian government.
Chapter 7, Paragraph 8		Yodeling	(v.) to sing loudly whole changing your voice back and forth between a natural pitch and higher pitch
Chapters; 1, and 7		Faggot	(n.) a male homosexual	Margo’s terminology name for Q regarding his vocabulary.
Chapter 7, Paragraph 22		Usurped	(v.) to take and keep something, such as power in a forceful or violent way and especially without the right to do so	Margo’s argumentative-conversation-term with Q.
Chapter 7, Hour Four		Torso	(n.) the main part of the human body not including the head, arms and legs	Part of the body.
Chapter 7, Paragraph 37		Undulation	(n.) a wavy appearance	Q’s terminology for his describing his torso.
Chapter. 8 Paragraph 6		Chauffeur	(v.) drive (a car or a passenger in a car), typically as part of one's job	Margo’s statement unto Q when they were in argument.
Chapter. 8, Paragraph 7		Miscreant	/ˈmiskrēənt/ (adj.) (of a person) behaving badly or in a way that breaks a law or rule.	Q’s point of view in his manner dwelling with Margo towards the SeaWorld, he might be called for university.
Chapter. 8, Paragraph 22		Shamu	Shamu was the first orca to survive more than 13 months in captivity and was the star of a very popular killer whale show at SeaWorld San Diego in the mid–late 1960s. She was the fourth killer whale (orca) ever captured (the second female).	Margo’s citation to Q about the SeaWorld’s most intrigue issue.
Chapter 8, Paragraph 28		Ditch	/diCH/ (n.) a narrow channel dug in the ground, typically used for drainage alongside a road or the edge of a field.	The drainage that could be found on the third side of the SeaWater.
Chapter 8, Paragraph 40		Moccasin	/ˈmäkəsən/ (n.) a venomous American pit viper.	Q’s prediction when Margo threw in the moat and was bitten by some creature she doesn’t know. “What was it? Was it a moccasin?” said Q.
Chapter 9, Paragraph 7		Helluva	/’heləvə/ Non standard spelling for *hell of a*	Q’s statement, describing the night he had with Margo. “Well, it was a helluva night”, Q stated.
Chapter 10, Paragraph 51		Cacophony	/kəˈkäfənē/ (n.) a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.	Q was resting, when suddenly a cacophony sound was coming from inside.
Chapter 11, Paragraph 1		Anarchic	/aˈnärkik/ (adj.) with no controlling rules or principles to give order	Q’s fantasizing thought about their high school status.

Hara did well and I do commend her for that.

Arjun C. Dango, Summarizer

Arjun C. Dango was our summarizer. Below is his summarized version of Paper Towns.

 Paper Towns Summary

by Arjun C. Dango

The story started at a young age of Quentin Jacobson and Margo Roth Spiegelman. While walking in the park, they found the dead body of Robert Joyner that he and Margo shared a discovery that will change their lives forever. Since that night, Margo had a separate way while good fortune led Q to a better life but with twists and turns and a lot of travel.

One night, few weeks before their graduation, Margo asked Q to come with her for a night till near dawn adventure and full or revenge. Leaving pranks on her ex-boyfriend’s house, her ex-best friends, and the school bully; including breaking into Sea World. Q thinks that this adventure will lead him back to Margo but he was wrong. Later that morning, Margo disappeared.

Q together with his friends, Ben and Radar, and Margo’s friend―Lacey, they searched for clues where Margo can be found just like what she always does when she leaves. There were clues that lead him to an abandoned mini mall where he thinks Margo has spent time recently; they found a map with marks that ends on Agloe. They did some research and discovered that Agloe was actually a copyright trap created by Esso. When they search for it on “Omnictionary”, they discover that someone has posted stating the population of Agloe “Will actually be One until may 29th at Noon.” There raised Q’s red flag that there’s only one person can write with that kind of capitalization. And because of it, they skipped their graduation to travel to another country that will take them 21 hours. Technically, the travel took them 24 hours with a near death experience.

Eventually, they arrived in Agloe. And discover Margo in yet another abandoned building. Yet she is not the same person they all thought they knew. They find her furious that they found her and they’re upset that she’s not the Margo they knew before she left. In the end, they realize that they don’t need to be who everyone wants them to be. The story ends with a kiss but not to our satisfaction. Q’s relationship with Margo will never be anything more than friends.

This summary is too wordy. It could have been more simpler. There were some lines above that doesn't need to be there. There was also a portion that made me frown. It was the lines "The story ends with a kiss but not to our satisfaction." and "Q’s relationship with Margo will never be anything more than friends.". The summarizer's job is, of course, to summarize. Anything more than that is contrary to his responibility including scrutinizing and expressing opinions by including comments in his "summary".

*Generally, I'm so proud of my groupmates for doing their part well and I'm looking forward to our second novel.