Give a Boy a Gun

"BANG! " Gunshots echo through the gym. Two heavily armed students, Gary and Brendan, hold their classmates hostage at a high school dance. Their targets: the football players and teachers who have tormented them. Their weapons: semiautomatic rifles stolen from a neighbor. Their motive: revenge. In "Give a Boy a Gun," the interweaving voices of students, teachers, friends, and the gunmen themselves re-create the harrowing crisis at Middletown High and the reasons behind Gary and Brendan's rampage. Mirroring the voices on each page are facts about guns and school violence that offer a blistering counterpoint to a tragedy that rings dreadfully true to life. A stunning work of fiction taken straight from today's headlines, "Give a Boy a Gun" is a stirring wake-up call to stop the violence and explore the role of guns in the lives of teenagers.