Tuesday, March 4, 2008

*Nineteen Minutes* by Jodi Picoult


I just finished reading Jodi Picoult's *Nineteen Minutes*, which is about school shooting, bullying, and popularity. I think that everyone either in high school or teaching high school should think about reading it, even though it's not the most pleasant or comfortable experience because, let's face it, the topic hits pretty close to home. Jodi Picoult obviously took a lot of her material from the Columbine shooting as well as other school shootings that have been in the news in the past few years. One of the coolest things about Picoult is that she presents an issue from many different angles, so we are experiencing this event (a school shooting that took 19 minutes-- hence the title) through the eyes of the shooter, his friends, his enemies, his parents, his defense lawyer, and the detective working the case. Reading the details of the shooting itself made me want to put the book down and stop reading because it was pretty awful, but the book is so well done and the subject treated so honestly, that I'm extremely grateful I made it through the entire thing. Having said all of that, I highly recommend *Nineteen Minutes* because it provides a lot of food for thought, is well-written, and confronts head-on a subject that makes a lot of people (myself included, sometimes) want to bury their heads in the sand.
3 1/2 out of 4 Bananas
Has anyone else read it? Tell me what you think!
Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award 2010 Nominee

No comments: