Book Details
Written by
Genre
More details

Give a Boy a Gun (by Todd Strasser)

common sense media says

Intense school-shooting book will trigger heated discussion.


parents & educators say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that kids will probably find this book about a school shooting hard to put down -- and even harder to forget. The subject matter is intense: the main characters are harassed, and later they plan an elaborate school shooting involving kidnapping, murders, guns, and bombs. That said, this is a book that will inspire a lot of discussion and introspection. The author helps kids think more deeply about both bullying and our gun culture, and provides facts about real school shootings as well as statistics about guns and gun control and more. Common Sense Media's article "Talking to Kids About School Shootings" can help parents who think that their kids might be overwhelmed by these facts, or this story.

Educational value: The author includes, at the foot of many of the pages, factoids about
real school shootings, guns, efforts at gun control, and statistics
about death and violence in our society. He concludes with a list of
related events that took place while he was writing the book, a partial
list of school shootings, and a bibliography. This book -- and this information -- could be useful to
high school teachers and administrators looking to raise gun control
awareness among students.
Positive messages: This intense story will make readers think about both the impact of bullying -- and America's gun culture. Parents can use the questions in our "Families Can Talk About" section to help their teens think more deeply about these topics.
Positive role models: The author is trying to make a connection between bullying and violence, but most of the main characters exhibit some of the worst behavior possible. The protagonists suffer through relentless bullying to the point that some readers may actually find themselves rooting for the shooters to succeed.
Violence: Shootings and beatings. Effects described in detail. Two teens capture students and teachers, shoot some, and mean to kill them all. From start to finish, humiliation, rage, and fear predominate.
Sex: Not applicable.
Language: Mild to moderate, with more extreme swearing suggested by substitutions. Also, a slur against homosexuals.
Consumerism: Not applicable.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Not applicable.

More on Give a Boy a Gun

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
  • 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. What can we do to help prevent this kind of violence -- and also help bullied kids before they take such extreme measures?
  • What do you think of the author's use of facts and statistics? Do you think it adds to the story's importance -- or does it make it too much of a "message book"?

What's the story?

What's the story?
High school students Gary Searle and Brendan Lawlor enter a school dance heavily armed with automatic weapons, having chained the doors shut and booby-trapped the exits with homemade bombs. They intend a carefully-planned payback against their schoolmates, mostly members of the football team, who have persecuted and tormented them for years. Using transcripts and interviews with survivors, this fictional story torn from the headlines chronicles events leading up to, during, and following the shootings. The author includes, at the foot of many of the pages, factoids about real school shootings, guns, efforts at gun control, and statistics about death and violence in our society. He concludes with a list of related events that took place while he was writing the book, a partial list of school shootings, and a bibliography. Part of the book's proceeds are donated to gun-control organizations.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 
Author Todd Strasser does a frighteningly effective job of making his readers think -- about guns, bullying, and more -- and the result is one very disturbing book. Some of the ways it is disturbing are clearly intentional; others are less clear. Readers ready for the intense material will find a provocative and compelling novel certain to trigger much heated discussion. This book could be useful to high school teachers and administrators looking to raise gun control awareness among students.

Book themes & details

Book Details
Author: Todd Strasser
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: January 1, 2000
Number of pages: 146

This review was written by Matt Berman
 
 

Review It

 

Review Give a Boy a Gun





Hang on! You need to be a member to post your review.
A safe community is important to us. Please observe our guidelines.
 

What parents & educators say

15

Most useful reviews by all members

GraveRobberAtLarge
teen, 14 years old
 
Great book.
Epic book. I cried when I finished it <3 What alot of parents won't get is, the authors purpose in writing the book was to prevent future school shootings. I mean, it was pretty obvious to me. I almost couldn't get my mom to buy the book for me because of the subject. The book had a lot of information and facts promoting further gun control and anti-bullying programs in schools at the bottom of each page. It is a tough subject to talk about, but ignoring it never helps.

brbii234
teen, 17 years old
 
i love this book beacuse it shows hom many kids get pick on in school to the ponit they kill them selves :(

tysmith2593
teen, 18 years old
 
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.

 
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!

kiaraluvsu23
parent of 5 year old
 
awesome book defintly would read again
i am a student and i had to read this in my English class at first i thought this book would be pretty dumb. as we read it each day and went over it with the class . i got intersted in it this book makes you think of all those kids you go to school with and see them get picked on by people day by day this could of happened to any school people just dont know what limits people have . i think this book is very good for all ages . i loved it .made me cry

ciarababy1995
parent of 16 year old
 
i lovee this book

pandaluv2357
teen, 15 years old
 
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.

PatriciaNicole
teen, 17 years old
 
Intense
This book contains the true opinions of the people involved in a school shooting, and it comes on really strong. This tells the realities of school bullying, and it's important that some kids learn about these things. I feel very safe at my high school, so I don't believe I really needed to read this, esp. with the language and drug/alcohol content. I think it depends more on a teens' or tweens' backgrounds, for whether they should read this book. But I definitely think that no one under fifteen should be reading this silently or by themselves. Grab a parents, grab a teacher, grab a friend. Read it out loud. For someone already heading that direction, this book could seem to glamorize the shooting scene. I still don't know if I should have given this book a one or a five.

skiergirl202
teen, 14 years old
 
Great for tweens and teens
This book is great to tell a realistic story about bullying and fire arms. Ilove this book and I think everyone should read it!

kidadvocate
parent of 13 and 16 year old
 
Not for tweens or young teens
This book is NOT appropriate for tweens/teens under 18. It has vindictive merciless violence that does not need to be promoted to kids. Their minds are not fully developed and able to cope with this and decipher such inhumane actions/behavior. Bullying is important to discuss and teach about but we can look to actual news media for materials if needed. We do not need to have this fiction in our kids' minds at young ages.

flixmstr
teen, 14 years old
 
This book is ok for kids 13+ even though I am only 11
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.

 
Disturbing is the word...
Yes, this book is definitely disturbing. Extreme violence because two kids get sick of being picked on. Also many references to drugs and alcohol, but it's alright for the audience it's written for. Mild swearing here and there.

 
Not as bad as it sounds,
I totally LOVED this book. It's about these boys that are toal outcasts. They get made fun of constantly and are finally sick of it. One of them owns a gun and decides to take action. They are very frustrated, as you get to be also by reading on. I reccommend this for kids over the age of 12.

ThomasAct
teen, 15 years old
 
Not the best book.
Very violent. not a fan of this book.

 
Thoughts on it from a 17 year old.
I thought this book was a very good one, I read it once when I was 13. Then again at 16. Although it shown alot of violence and anger it made me think about how I treat people around me. It is unlikley that there is a kid who will bring a gun to school and shoot people up. But it isn't impossible. It's happened before, and that's why I believe this book is pretty good one... it shows that people are affected by the way they are treated. It made me reflect and realize every one is going through different things and some go through different measures to "fix it". I recommend this book for teens who are mature enough to understand it.

wavecrasher737
teen, 16 years old
 
All adolescents and school faculty should read this book!
This book conveys messages that all adolescents, teachers, and other school faculty need to hear and understand. It shows how damaging bullying can be, why it needs to be prevented, and that violence and revenge are NOT the answers to the problem. The two shooters were portrayed as good children, but bullying caused one of them to spiral into a deep depression and the other to develop anger problems and violent tendencies. While the story is told from many different people who have very different opinions about what happened, they all agree on one thing: the shooting only made things worse for everyone. Even the friends of the shooters, who wanted revenge on the bullies, felt that the shooting was horrible and made things much worse off for them. The book, overall, conveys a positive message. There is some mild violence, which is not at all graphic, and some characters consume alcohol, but it is nothing that children haven't already heard about before. I read this book when I was 12, along with the rest of my seventh grade class, and I didn't see anything wrong with it. I would especially recommend this book to all teachers, so they could understand how to prevent bullying and future school shootings.

HCocobolo
teen, 14 years old
 
Awsome
Great book that you should read

An independent voice for families
Age-appropriate reviews
 

vote now

Will you read Give a Boy a Gun?


Already read it? What do you think?

 

About our rating system
ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child, some content may not be right for some kids
OFF: Not age appropriate for kids this age