Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser

Published in 2000. 208 pages.


I read Give a Boy a Gun this past summer on the recommendation of my 13yo daughter. It's a powerful testament to the need for gun control in America!

From Todd Strasser's website:

A stunning work of fiction taken straight from today's headlines, Give a Boy a Gun is a stirring wake-up call to stop violence and teasing, and to explore the role of guns in the lives of teenagers.

From the book's "Final Thoughts" (on pages 204-208):

Anyone looking for one simple black-and-white answer to the problem of school violence involving guns will not find it here. ... I have no one answer.

If these changes are going to occur, they will have to start with you, the young person reading this book. If this story has moved you, then it will be your job to keep these ideas alive, to examine your own life and your own school, to keep these issues in the forefront with open discussions and debate. Mine is the generation that will see true gun reform continually stalled by lobby-fattened politicians. Yours is the generation that may someday have the power to make the real changes that will save young lives.

2004.45