Brown, Jennifer. Hate List. Little, Brown and Company, 2009.
ISBN 978-0316041447, $14.99 405 pages. Ages 15 & up.
Genre: drama, realistic fiction
Awards:
ALA Best Book for Young AdultsVOYA "Perfect Ten"
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Michigan Library Association's Thumbs Up! Award
Louisiana Teen Readers Choice award
2012 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award
Honorable mention for the 2011 Arkansas Teen Book Award
Valerie Leftman's imperfect life included arguing parents and abusive bullies for classmates and teachers but at least she had her boyfriend, Nick. He was romantic sometimes and loved reading Shakespeare. It was with Nick she was able to escape and share her miseries with in things like the "Hate List" where they listed people in school that were just cruel or simply annoying. Life wasn't wonderful but it was bearable. At least that was the way she thought before May 2, 2008 when Nick brought a gun to school and started a rampage that would end with him taking his own life after killing and hurting so many others on the now infamous list. Valerie slowly recovers from her own wound received from trying to save another student but the mental wounds are much harder to heal as she is forced to examine questions she doesn't know how to answer. Should she have known what Nick was planning? Should she have died too like others say? Was what happened that day her fault?
I highly recommend that you browse the author's website and check-out her other works too.
No comments:
Post a Comment