This book is beast. Everything is so vivid, so distressing, it makes you feel like you are in the story. There is merely a thing gap between this and reality. THe messages are positive and negative. It teaches kids that revenge is nessecary, but some kids might like to see the peril and blood.
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Give a Boy a Gun
(2000, Fiction - Coming of Age, Written by Todd Strasser)
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings(Flash is loading. If this text does not disappear you need to install the latest flash version)
Not age appropriate for kids under 13, age appropriate for kids over 99; suggested age 13. -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
This is one very disturbing book.
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 13–18
What to watch out for
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Violence:
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Sex:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
About Give a Boy a Gun
Parents need to know that kids will probably find this book hard to put down -- and even harder to forget. The story will also inspire a lot of discussion and introspection. That said, most of the major characters exhibit the worst possible behavior. And although the point of the book argues against these attitudes, no alternative behaviors are shown. The plot also doles out lots of information about the gun culture.
Read our full review by Matt Berman
Families Can Talk About
- Families can talk about how the fictional events described in this book mirror real-life school shootings that you've read about in the news or seen on television. Does this story have clear-cut heroes and villains? Which characters do you most identify with? If you were in Gary and Brendan's shoes, would you have acted any differently? Do you see any ways in which the tragedy could have been prevented? And is someone ever justified in resorting to extreme violence?
Our Members Say
See all 18 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
- I rate this title iffy for age 13 and give itMy concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- My highlights are:
- Educational
This book is ok for kids 13+ even though I am only 11
- I rate this title iffy for age 10 and give it
They should have succeeded!
I read this book and I'm disappointed that they didn't succeed. They deserved good revenge for all those years of torture. But overall it was a great book and you should read it if you haven't already.
- I rate this title on for age 13 and give it
I LOVED THIS BOOK
OMG i had to read this book my freshman year in high school. and Now that im a jr in high school i get to read it again. and i LOVE IT. It just Means so much and the sad thing is.. I can see this happening at my school!
- I rate this title on for age 13 and give it
still reading it
okay, i'm rading this book in my english class and so far so god. i love this book! but i have a couple questions. when they are talking about killings, that have happened in the past, at the bottom of each page, they frequently talk about this massacre where 2 boys shoot up their school and then they committed suicide and this massacre is what brought the book "give a boy a gun" as my teacher says. but i want to know what the massacre was called because i want to read about it.
- I rate this title iffy for age 14 and give it
I loved this book!!!
This book completely changed my overall perspective of how real it is when kids are pushed to the point of popping. I know how it feels to be pushed, but I never would think of attempting to kill my classmates. Strasser really took time to show his readers how people in our own world can treat kids, and teachers not do anything about it, when they see it and let it happen.
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