Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.comEvery person in the world should read this book. That being said, I'll admit right off that I hate guns. Absolutely abhor them. I'm the mother who refuses to let her children play with toy guns, even water pistols. Why? Why, indeed. Why let your children shoot things at each other--whether it be water, rubber darts, BBs, or paint balls--if you don't want them to shoot bullets at each other? After all, that's what guns are for. To shoot bullets. Bullets that are designed to do one thing, and one thing only--kill. Or, if you prefer, injure, maim, dismember, or wound. So what is GIVE A BOY A GUN about? In a few words, human nature, the cruelty of children, and how those factors don't really mix well with guns. Oh sure, gun activists say that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." And, if you get technical about it, they're right. But when someone gives you a guitar, what's it for? It produces musical sounds. Yes, it needs an actual human to aide it along, but a guitar does what it's made to do--make music. Just like a gun, with the aide of a human, does what it's supposed to do--kill. In Todd Strasser's GIVE A BOY A GUN, we learn about Brendan and Gary, two boys who live each day of school in their own personal hell. They're not athletic, so the jocks pick on them. They're not particularly brainy, so they don't fit in with the nerds. They don't come from extremelely wealthy families, so they're not immediately deemed popular. In fact, Brendan and Gary are like 95% of every teenager you meet--normal kids living normal lives, trying their best to just get through the day. I remember all too well the horror and terror of high-school; not physical, at least in my case, but the sheer emotional bullying that I received from kids who deemed me not up to par. And the teachers who turn a blind eye, either because the tormentors were too valuable to the school as athletes, or too much trouble to deal with. But for Brendan and and Gary, enough turns out to be enough. Really, how much torment can one person take? When teachers and administration and counselors turn the other way, when budget restraints prevent teachers from the ability to really get to know their students, when athleticism takes precedent over brain power, when will school bullying come to an end? Why, really, should it shock us as a nation when things like Columbine happen? Has it really been so long ago that you were in school that you can't remember what it was like to be the object of someone's daily put-downs, or the sneers and snide comments from the "popular" kids? Gary and Brendan, along with a few others like them, were "outcasts" in their school. When their fascination with revenge on those who've tormented them leads to guns, it really shouldn't surprise anyone. GIVE A BOY A GUN is interspersed with tragic facts--school shootings over the last several decades, quotes from newspaper articles, statistics from gun companies--that prove that teens and guns is a growing problem. But really, when you think about it, why should it shock us? We always see signs that proclaim a school a "drug-free zone", but when will we ever see one that proclaims it a "bully-free zone", or a "tolerance for everyone" zone? Think about why kids are so cruel, why they can't get noticed by those who could possibly help them, and why they can so easily get a gun to make their problems go away. Just as every person in the world (adult and teen) should watch the movie Requiem for a Dream, everyone in the world needs to read Todd Strasser's utterly though-provoking GIVE A BOY A GUN. And then we'll talk about how "guns don't kill people."
“One of the things I used to like about writing books for young people was that it wasn’t necessary to deal with murder, adultery, and various other immoral or criminal activities that seem mandatory in adult novels these days. I find it sad and frightening that this is no longer the case.”Author’s Note from Give a Boy a GunWhen Denise Shipley learns that her neighbor Gary Searle is dead of a gunshot wound after joining Brendan Lawlor in shooting classmates in his high school, she goes home to Middletown to find out why. This fictional character’s fictional interviews with the locals are interspersed with emails and characters’ diaries. Much like footnotes, factual information from real newspapers and magazines runs along the bottom of the pages. The information is about guns, semi-automatic weapons, and special bullets meant to cause severe damage. It is also about incidents of gun violence.What we learn from one of the shooters (Gary’s) ex-girlfriend, Allison, is that while the boys seem sexy when they become more dangerous, they are also—well, dangerous. There is a sixth sense that tells her to stand down. From the one friend of the shooters, Ryan, we learn that they are progressively getting more and more into drugs. From football player William, we see the point of view that athletes who bully the loners/awkward students deserve special treatment as athletes are the ones who work incredibly hard to win games and create an atmosphere of school spirit.But no matter how anyone frames it or makes excuses, the school culture, the country’s gun culture, and the mental states of Gary and Brendan all collide into a sickening catastrophe. Innocent victims, like caged animals, have no way out when the shooting begins.High school housekeeping: Strasser does a good job of showing how complicated are the events and relationships that lead up to a tragedy like a school shooting. He doesn’t provide easy answers, but he does give you a riveting climax. Although Give a Boy a Gun is fictional, it’s easy to see connections to the (Littleton, Colorado) Columbine High School shooting tragedy which was also committed by two boys who hoped to wipe the school off the face of the map. However, in the years since Columbine, more information has come out about the shooters, much of it indicating that they were neither loners nor friendless. For a good nonfiction connection to Strasser’s novel, you could read Columbine by David Cullen. Keep in mind that the two books were written for different audiences. Give a Boy a Gun is for high school readers, with a 760 Lexile level (about sixth grade reading level). So it’s a good choice for reluctant or struggling readers. Columbine is an adult work, long and detailed, based on research. Yet the Lexile website also gives it a 760 Lexile level—exactly the same as Give a Boy a Gun. I have to say that this surprises me. But if you have the ability to stick it, it’s a great read, and exactly the sort of thing that the framers of the Common Core would like you to try for ‘informational text’ (nonfiction).NOTE: This review is reposted at my blog School Library Lady.
What do You think about Give A Boy A Gun (2002)?
I wouldn't have read this if my daughter hadn't pulled it out but I finished it in about a half of a day and I'm glad I got through it. It's obviously meant for young people and I think it's probably a good for teenagers also but my only problem with it is the author and how he's totally against owning guns. I'm well aware of the school shootings and I'm also well aware of the Constitution. I have the right to bear arms and I want to make sure if someone walks in my house with the intention of harming me or someone in my family that I can put them down. The Constitution was made for a reason. How about taking away free speech also? That way the people who don't agree with my review can deal with it by making sure it's not seen? Strasser put everything together very nicely but it's obvious he definitely had his own agenda. I think this was his responses to all the gun advocates- all tied up nicely in one package. Someone said to him that the driving age should be raised if lives want to be saved and what do we get? A chart showing a few states and the number of lives lost due to driving and due to shootings. Okay.The statistics were also okay but I would have liked most of them to be more specific. It really bugs me when someone spews forth statistics and they seem okay to the naked eye but once you really look you find things missing. All in all it's a decent book but I wouldn't hand it to a certain kind of kid. I'd want to make sure my child builds their own thoughts and beliefs about gun control before this guy, or anyone else, tells them it should be outlawed.
—Eva Leger
The layout of the storytelling is very interesting and the climax of the story quite intense, but I just felt there could have been so much more done with this story. Maybe since I've read other school shooting books before such as Nineteen Minutes I thought there would be more to it. Horribly tragic, with a small twist in the last paragraph that I didn't see coming and would have liked to have known more about prior to the end. I wish I could have seen more narrative from certain characters and not others as the story unfolded, like Allison.
—Danielle Bartos
I've read a lot of fiction and non-fiction regarding school violence and this is truly one of the best. Strasser blends fact and fiction in order to alert his reader; we must discover what causes violent behavior in teens, even if it means examining our own behavior more closely. Bullying along with gun control are some of the controversial topics Strasser touches upon in this little book. I may have read this in a few hours, but the impression it made upon me will last a lot longer. Although I'm in my early twenties, the issues presented in this novel are of my generation. Whether or not you are a teen, "Give a Boy a Gun" will create a dialogue amongst its readers; and so it should. School violence is not an issue that is going away. Every few years, a story explodes in the news and once again saddens America. Thus, work such as Strasser's must be read in order to keep this important issue a topic of conversation and inspire change.
—Heather Colacurcio
