Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser

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Title: Give the Boy A Gun
Author:
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: June 1, 2020
Pages: 176
Genre: YA
Review: ebook from NetGalley
Buy Link: Amazon 



In this 20th anniversary edition of Todd Strasser’s gut-wrenching and critically acclaimed Give a Boy a Gun, two boys bring guns to school in search of revenge against their classmates.
For as long as they can remember, Brendan and Gary have been mercilessly teased and harassed by the jocks who rule Middletown High. But not anymore. Stealing a small arsenal of guns from a neighbor, they take their classmates hostage at a school dance. In the panic of this desperate situation, it soon becomes clear that only one thing matters to Brendan and Gary: revenge.
This special 20th anniversary edition includes updated backmatter and statistics on school shootings—a topic that is now more relevant than ever.



I received this book via NetGalley to give an honest review.

I was honestly torn on this book. I saw it and requested to read it because I was interested to see what goes through a person's mind to want to harm other people. 
We get that in this story. We find out why two teenage boys did what they did. Bullying through and through. They wanted the people who hurt them or did them wrong to feel how they felt at that moment of time. They wanted them to know that it was not right it was not cool. They wanted their revenge. It was not right at all and yet through the letters and the comments from those that were affected we see that some have no remorse on how they treated these boys. 
I gave this book three stars because of the way the story was told. I would start reading and then the storyline would be broken up and I would be reading a comment from someone and then a statistic. Then back to the story, start getting into it and then it starts all over again. I understand the way the author did it but it was not something I liked as it took me away from the story. I would highly suggest maybe before the start of the next chapter then do the comment from whoever was interviewed and then a statistic. It was very interesting to see what the statistics were through the out years on gun violence. You never really know how bad it is until you see the numbers. It is horrible, it is sad, it is heartbreaking. It is something that should never happen. Kids should never be able to get their hands on guns. Yet, it seems that it always is happening. 
Some things were repeated in the afterword which is not too much of a bother but I don't like things to be repeated when I am reading. I am very weird about that.
I wish I could have given this more than three stars but it was hard for me too. 
One quote that stood out to me from Jack Phillips: "Sometimes at a gun show I see those foreign-made weapons. Some of them come from countries we once considered our enemies. Part of me can't help thinking that they must be laughing their heads off at us. They don't have to go to war against us anymore. All they have to do is sell us guns, and we'll do the job for them. And the darnedest part of it is they make a profit."

Todd Strasser
Todd Strasser is the author of more than 140 novels for adults, YAs and middle graders. His YA novels including such award winners as Price of Duty, No Place, If I Grow Up, Boot Camp, Can't Get There From Here, Give a Boy a Gun, Wish You Were Dead, Blood on My Hands, Kill You Last, the Impact Zone series, and the DriftX series.
His books for middle graders include Abe Lincoln for Class President, Byte Barkley: Secret agent K-9, Don't Get Caught in the Girls' Locker Room, Grizzly Attack, and the best-selling 17-book Help! I'm Trapped in ... series.
His most well-known novel for grades 5 and up, FALLOUT, received a stellar review in the New York Times and was named a must-read middle school book by School Library Journal.
Todd's newest novel, Summer of '69, recounts his life during the summer of 1969, culminating in his experience at Woodstock.

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