Give a Boy a Gun (Hardcover)

by Todd Strasser (Author) "By the time you read this, I'll be gone..." (more)
Key Phrases: semiautomatic handgun, gun industry, semiautomatic weapons, Dustin Williams, Allison Findley, Sam Flach (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
High school sophomores Gary Searle and Brendan Lawlor have had enough. Day in and day out, for more than two years, they have been harassed, beaten up, and cursed out by most of the jocks at Middleton High--especially by football player Sam Flach. Armed with guns they've stolen from a neighbor's collection, Gary and Brendan storm a school dance, booby trap all the doors with homemade bombs, and prepare to turn their high school caste system upside down with a violent show of force. When it's all over, Sam Flach is alive (but without any hope of a future football career), Gary has killed himself, and Brendan is in a coma, after being beaten almost to death by other students who managed to disarm him. Could this tragedy have been prevented? Who, if anyone, is to blame?

Consisting of short, related statements from students, parents, school administrators, and even the troubled shooters themselves, Give a Boy a Gun attempts to give a voice to the countless sides of the school violence issue. Is this novel disturbing and at times difficult to read? Yes, of course it is. But it is also an articulate, well-rounded cross section of the many viewpoints on gun control, peer bullying, and the high school social order since the traumatic events that took place in Littleton, Colorado. While Strasser readily acknowledges that there are no easy solutions to the problem of school violence, this powerful book will be a useful tool for parents and teachers alike in exploring this issue and finding some ways of resolving the tragic escalation of teen violence. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From Publishers Weekly
Like Virginia Walter in Making Up Megaboy, Strasser (How I Changed My Life) explores the psyche of adolescents who use handguns to violent ends. Unfortunately, the format used here detracts from the central dramaA10th-graders Gary Searle and Brendan Lawlor holding their classmates hostage with firearms and bombs. A portentous author's note ("One of the things I dislike most about guns in our society is that... they rob children of what we used to think of as a childhood") prefaces an excerpt from Gary's suicide note, which is followed by comments from one Denise Shipley, who is studying journalism at the state university and returns to Middletown High "determined not to leave again until I understood what had happened there." The bulk of the novel is comprised of quotes Denise has collected from, among others, the two 10th-graders' parents, teachers and classmates, including nemesis Sam Flach, a football player whose knees they shatter with bullets. These quotes, however, seem arbitrarily arranged into sections; scattered and disconnected, the quotes build little momentum and the overall effect is numbing. Running along the foot of many of the pages are distracting excerpts from the media, Internet postings and statistics from unattributed sources (e.g., "The number of kids killed by firearms has quadrupled in the past ten years"). The revelation in Denise's closing note (that she is Gary's stepsister) and the author's "Final Thoughts" ("It will be your job to keep these ideas alive") provide a heavy-handed ending that may be more off-putting than eye-opening. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689811128
• ISBN-13: 978-0689811128
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (126 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,076,266 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, my goodness!, September 28, 2000

By	karen (A bookseller in Huntington Beach, Ca.) - See all my reviews

Good fiction encourages the reader to think hard about the issues that affect our lives. The very best fiction does that and more - it encourages us to act on those issues. In this powerful, honest, and disturbing novel about guns and school violence, Todd Strasser gives voice to the victims, classmates, neighbors, parents, and students who held the guns - both fictional and real - and asks the reader what he can do to make a difference. Strasser goes beyond just the issue of gun control by presenting a compelling look at the intolerance that pervades our schools. He implores our educators and children to celebrate the differences that make us human, to value accomplishments beyond those on the athletic fields, and to recognize that marching to a different drummer is not cause for ridicule. I applaud Strasser, a fiction author, who uses his craft and his gift to encourage readers to be part of the solution to violence that is unnecessarily costing young lives.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Give a boy a gun, September 6, 2000

By A Customer

Taking today's headlines and combining them with fictional faces and more than enough quotes and statistics to terrify his readers, Todd Strasser presents his newest YA novel, Give A Boy A Gun (2000). The novel is a combination of statements given by witnesses to a well thought out gun attack by 2 teens against their peers and teachers at a school dance. The book is similar to Making up Megaboy (Virginia Walter, 1998) in that the story is presented from multiple perspectives versus narrative form. But unlike Megaboy, this book takes you inside the lives of its killers and gives their rationale for their actions as well as their intimate suicide letters. This is an incredibly well researched and thought out book. It will definitely raise the eyebrows of many parents because of its violence level and subject matter. It was written for YA's and will make them think long and hard about gun control, but I feel that librarians and teachers alike would be remiss if they did not read it for themselves. Includes further sources for information. Partial proceeds from the book will go to gun control charities. Highly recommended for older teens and adults. Not for the weak of stomach. A definite best book candidate. Controversy will follow this book wherever it goes.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A shocking work of fiction, September 10, 2000

By A Customer

When I started reading the book, I was amazed to discover that it was not a non fiction book. The style and wording of the author makes the book extremely plausible, and the fact that it is based on true occurences adds to that. In "Give a Boy a Gun", Todd Strasser tells the story of two boys who hold their school hostage during a dance. The reason: revenge on the football players and teachers. The book is written from the view points of friends and family, school staff, e-mails between the gunmen and chatroom conversations between the gunmen and their friends. At the bottom of most every page are facts about violence and shootings. At the back of the book is a section about violent shootings and occurences that happened while the book was being written, and another brief section of certin school shootings.