The Terrorist

Cooney's gripping 1999 YA novel has been reissued by Open Road Media and takes on new resonances in the post-9/11 era. When Billy, living with his family in London, is handed a brown paper package in the Underground, he realizes too late that it is a bomb. His death sends his family, particularly his sister Laura, into a tailspin. Her seemingly-idyllic international school is transformed overnight, and everyone feels like a suspect. Was Billy a random victim? Or was he a planned target? As her school social life shifts, knowing who to trust and what to think becomes complicated indeed. Features Cooney's trademark fast-paced writing and an exciting climactic moment. (4)

"The Terrorist" is a different kind of book for popular children and young adult author, Caroline B. Cooney. Set in London, England, Laura's family is here for a year for her father's work. Laura's brother Billy is killed by a bomb on the London Underground. The rest of the book is devoted to Laura trying to find out the reason behind this senseless killing. The lines between friends and enemies becomes blurred as Laura discovers more and more information about the lives of the students she thinks of as friends. The suspense builds to an almost intolerable peak as the truth behind Billy's killing starts becoming painfully apparent.

I was absolutely hooked after reading the first chapter. I along with Laura, the stories protagonist, wanted to find out who Billy's (Laura's younger brother) murderer was! We join Laura as she attempts to solve the mystery of her brother's death as a result of a terrorist attack on a London subway. Who would purposely want to kill Laura's brother? This novel adresses some trying and difficult times and issues that exist in our society today such as our stereotypical views of particular groups of people because of their ethnicity. A page turner with a shocking and surprising ending!

Cooney is an astounding author. I picked this book up out of curiosity from my old books- I didn't remember it. I read ten pages and could hardly stop myself. Billy was a fascinating character, and I had to know what happened. I guessed it, but, like Laura, I almost didn't want to believe it. It was interesting, too, and I think Cooney's ideas of Americans in Britain were not far off. I also confess that when I studied abroad in Ireland I had my family ship me Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

This quick easy read by Caroline Cooney is right up there with her other books - it has action, suspense and an unexpected twist. The problem is very fitting for today's society, although this book was written before 911. The urgency of the main character, to solve her brother's murder is admirable and stays constant throughout the book.

Molly Humphrey
EDCI 4120/5120

Cooney, C.B. (1997). The Terrorist. New York: Scholastic.

Grade Levels: 9-12
Category: Fiction
Read Alouds: pp. 1-11 (Chapter 1); 46-53 (Chapter 5); 95-103 (Chapter 9); 188-198 (Chapter 16 & Epilogue)

Summary: The politically clueless Laura suddenly takes a keen interest in international politics when her brother Billy is murdered in a London terrorist attack. Laura makes it her life’s ambition to discover who murdered her brother, suspecting everyone around her. Just as Laura begins to relinquish her suspicions of her friends and classmates, Laura receives an unusual request from Jehran, a mysterious Muslim girl at the international school Laura attends. Jehran asks Laura for Billy’s passport, saying she show more needs to escape to America from an oppressive brother who hopes to marry her off to a man forty years older. Only after risking helping Jehran get to America does Laura, at the last minute, realize that the terrorist, and Billy’s murderer, is the one she has tried to help.

Themes: When the novel was written in 1997, three years had lapsed since the first bombing on the World Trade Center. The attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, however, have had a much larger impact than the 1993 attack. A teacher presenting this book to a class needs to take caution. Laura’s greatest reaction to her brother’s murder is to suspect her friends and classmates and only comes to find that her suspicion is right. Instead of creating a positive dialogue about Muslims or students from other cultures, the author reinforces contemporary stereotypes of non-Westerners. This book would work well along with another book that represents the non-Western culture in a cultural awareness curriculum. The novel Does My Head Look Big in This? is an excellent example of a novel that looks at Islam from a Muslim girl’s perspective, making sure that readers understand that she is just another teenager, not a suspect.

Discussion Questions:
What does role, if any, does religion play in the novel?
What does the author say about terrorists and terrorism?
How might the novel be more influential for today’s readers than when it was written in 1997?

Reader Response: The more I think about this book, the more I hate it. I honestly cannot think of what the point of this novel is. I had hoped the author would try to dispel some stereotypes, but that was not the case. What I liked most about the novel was the comparisons between the British and Americans. I love London and have visited a few times, but that had really nothing to do with the actual story about Laura wishing to find her brother’s murderer. The fact that one of Laura’s classmates really did murder Billy and had no other cause than herself seemed unrealistic to me. Terrorists do come in all shapes and sizes, but the whole storyline and the ending, especially, were stupid. show less

Billy was just an innocent little boy riding the tube home in London. As he left the train, a man handed him a package and said his friend had dropped it. The package blew up, killing Billy. A random act of terrorism. No suspects. Big sister Lauren is determined to find the people behind this terrorist act. She discovers that terrorists look and act just like us.