A group of high-school seniors are taken hostage by their history teacher and are forced to write poems, five each, about the experience as well as about the past four years spent attending their urban high school.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Did the subtitle jar you a bit? "A Hostage Drama in Poems." Poems?! It works remarkably well. Mel Glenn takes a difficult subject--a berserk teacher holding his students hostage--and lets the drama play out in this unusual format. The poems--five from each student, one for each year of high school, and the last composed on the day of the crisis--reveal the thoughts, dreams, and fears of contemporary teens in an urban classroom. A bit like rap in visual form, the poems cut deep, build in suspense. The honesty expressed will capture the interest of even the most reluctant readers.
From School Library Journal
Grade 8-10. At 8 a.m. on June 16th, the seniors are lined up in the courtyard waiting to receive their yearbooks. Some flirt. Some daydream. Some are impatient. All of them will be in first-period history class where their teacher, Mr. Wiedermeyer, will lock the classroom door, brandish a gun, and hold them all hostage. Glenn's proven ear for the cadence of speech is exercised here with great skill while telling the story of each character's life and preoccupation. The many points of view expressed, the typographical versatility, and the creative use of white space all add interest to the unfolding story of the tragedy of a teacher's life and the vivid stories of his students. Unfortunately, melodrama supplants real drama. Stereotypical portrayals spoil any real involvement, and predictability destroys the suspense. The Jewish student is being pushed by his parents; the Asian student is hellbent toward success; the one with artistic talent thinks he is gay; one is pregnant; one is abused, etc. And the reporters are uncaring and aggressive; the parents scream and yell; and the administration bumbles along. The selections lack the conceits that heighten the enjoyment of traditional poetry?metaphor, simile, alliteration, onomatopoeia. But they're never boring and often very clever. YAs will find their interest piqued and reluctant readers particularly will be drawn to the excitement of design and content.?Marjorie Lewis, formerly at Heathcote School, Scarsdale, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It takes a village . . .,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Taking of Room 114: A Hostage Drama in Poems (Hardcover)
A classroom is a community, and everyone in it views and interacts within it differently. This story takes multiple viewpoints, weaving together the strands creating the seemingly-impossible scenario of a classroom held hostage by a gun-toting teacher. While mystifying at first, as the poetic narratives resonate, the world of Room 114, evolved over 4 years of high school, becomes a clear window on the individuals involved, and a mirror of vital issues in youthful society. This book creates images in your mind that resonate long after the last page is turned.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Point=Blank Reality test,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Taking of Room 114: A Hostage Drama in Poems (Hardcover)
The subtle understory of the teacher holding students hostage was the perfect blending element in this tapestry of high school life. If you're looking for TV fireworks=type action in a rescue scene, then this is not the book for you. The slam-bang comes as each student's life moves from freshman to senior, their thoughts and actions a drama that unfolds into their final class with their senior history teacher. You know these people. You went to school with them
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Student Hostages,
By
This review is from: The Taking of Room 114: A Hostage Drama in Poems (Hardcover)
It is the end of the school year, and the seniors just want to get their yearbooks and stop thinking about school. They have plans to start work or to go to college, and no one can really be bothered with classes. But then Mr. Wiedermeyer, a senior history teacher, locks the door of his classroom behind his students. He has a gun, although he doesn't seem sure of how he is going to use it, and he won't let his students leave.
Soon the media is involved, reporting on the story as administrators and police try to puzzle through the notes Mr. Wiedermeyer slips under the door. They aren't sure what to make of the things he is saying, and they are terribly afraid of making a bad situation worse. This story is told in a series of free-verse poems from the minds of the students in the classroom that day and of the others who are involved in the situation. I really liked that there were five poems about each student, one related to each of his or her four years at the high school and then one related to the day of the hostage situation. Mr. Wiedermeyer's notes and his tone of absolute discouragement made me sad and made him seem less like a villain to me. However, I would have liked to have had more background on some of the characters in this story. Sometimes five poems wasn't enough to figure out what was going on in an individual's life.
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