Common Sense Media Review
Intense school-shooting book will trigger heated discussion.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 5 parent reviews
Based on 13 kid reviews
Kids say this book delivers a profound message on the consequences of bullying and the tragic potential of school violence, aiming to foster understanding and prevention among students and educators. However, the graphic nature of its content, including violence, drugs, and weapons, leads some readers to find it unsuitable for younger audiences, while others see it as an essential read that encourages maturity and reflection on social issues.
- bullying impact
- important messages
- violence portrayal
- maturity requirement
- school awareness
- reader engagement
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
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?
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.
Talk to Your Kids 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. 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"?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Coming of Age
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster
- Publication date : January 1, 2000
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 12
- Number of pages : 146
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate