Give a Boy a Gun

by Todd Strasser

Summary: Gary and Brendan are high school sophomores who have been bullied and picked on for years. They steal guns and stage an attack on students and teachers at a high school dance. This book is written from many different points of view: the boys themselves, teachers, students, neighbors, and parents. Footnotes throughout provide relevant and interesting tidbits and facts on gun control issues, making the story even more disturbing.

My thoughts: This book is terrifying because we all know that the story is modeled after real events like the one at Columbine. Give a Boy a Gun is sensitively written, though, and serves to make us really think about issues like gun control, bullying, and our individual roles in helping put an end to school violence.