Shooter

I love contemporary issue books. Myers does here what he does so well, he tells the story of an unstable, alienated white student who takes a gun to school and kills the school bully who has been tormenting him. Myers tells the story through various official records of the incident (autopsy report, police report, psychological interviews) as well as newspaper accounts and the killer’s diary. We see the same group of incidents through the eyes of three different teens; Len, the unstable killer who showed lots of warning signs that were not properly dealt with by any of the adults he came in contact with; Carla, his maybe girlfriend who was treated so badly and Cameron, his best friend, one of the few black students in the school who is show more also an outsider and subject to bullying. Cameron was in the school with him the day of the shootings. Looking at the same incident through the accounts of different sources is very effective to stimulate thoughtful reflection, for example, in the news paper story the murdered bully’s father says: “you don’t send your kid to school, teach him the right things to do, to have it end like this.” (p156). But Brad appears very different in Len’s diary “At the ranch, Brad called me a faggot. He pushes and pushes into me” (197). The different viewpoints -focus reinforces that people and events are not black and white; they are much more nuanced and, I hope it will promote a more thoughtful examination in everything teens read and hear. Could lead to good discussions of important topics. 12/06 show less

Shooter is about the aftermath of a school shooting (obviously) and the cool thing about it is it's written in an unconventional style. It's presented as police reports and interviews with the shooter's 2 friends in the days and weeks following the shooting... and also the diary of the shooter himself.

I thought the idea of this book was awesome. When I first opened this book and saw that it was police and psychologist interviews and reports I got so excited! But then it was SO short!! I'm all for short YA books (because that means you can read more of them!), but the problem with this one is that book didn't feel done. I wanted more! I don't feel like I got to really understand Len and his friends. Cameron was the most developed show more character and I still didn't feel like I got to understand how he felt about anything. Also the diary could've been amazing and it just was blah.
I've read several books about Columbine and I sort of felt like this was too copy-cat. The shooting in the woods, building bombs, the library being the main shooting area, and was it just me or was Cameron a little bit too much Brooks Brown?? You can do a school shooting and come up with your own version of events you know?
In the end it was just ok for me.... It needed to go WAY deeper! show less

Myers tells the story of a school shooting through interviews, newspaper articles, police reports and a diary. This unusual method of storytelling allows the reader to question what might have actually happened, and eliminates the certainty that would have most likely resulted with a traditional narrative. All the complexity of teenage life is intact, where important decisions seem to just happen rather than being made, and how other people see you is as important as who you are. Myers doesn't offer any answers or solutions which makes for a somewhat unsatisfying read, but let's face it, it's how things really are.

A series of transcribed interviews with teens Cameron Porter and Carla Evans by police authorities, and Leonard Gray's diary entries attempt to analyze the events leading to Leonard's shooting spree and suicide at their high school. Leaves the reader more to think about than to answer any questions of why? Some of the slang seemed awkward--"pull your beard and feel your pain"????

Cameron, Carla, and Leonard (Len) all attend Madison High School. Investigators want to know what kind of relationship the three friends had-- and who was really behind the deadly school shootings on April 22. The story is told through a series of interviews with Carla and Cameron, and then finally through Len's journal. This novel explores aspects of how well friends really know each other, why people hang on to friends in the face of obvious or even disturbing differences, and touches on prejudice in several forms. Myers writes in his usual crisp, gripping way, and the story unfolds well. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the book is at the end, when Myers writes as Len in a series of journal entries. I'll recommend this to high show more schoolers looking for an edgy, suspenseful read that isn't very long (this is 223 pages, mostly in dialogue format--- quick readers can finish in a couple hours). show less

As an example of non-traditional narrative, Myers story of a school shooting shines. He cleverly builds suspense through police transcripts and newspaper clippings., slowly building a complete story with great characters. He also creates an entirely non-cliched and stereotypical African American character, and deals very honestly with issues of racism.

Shooter includes a series of interviews, journals, and various reports that are gathered after a school shooting has happened. A heavy and interesting read that leaves you wondering if there was anything that could have been done to help Len before he decided to bring his guns to school.