Nineteen Minutes

Ashley got me hooked on this author. She's more of a serious read than I'm used to, but still very good. This book kind of got to me. It's about a boy who gets bullied for 12 years of his school career and then ends up going into the school one day and shooting some of his classmates and teachers in 19 minutes. The more I got into the book, the more I got angry for both sides it was taking. I'm a big advocate of anti-bullying, so I felt really bad for Peter for being bullied all the time. There was even one instance in high school his junior year, that the group of "popular kids" come up behind him in the cafeteria and depants him, including his underwear. I can only imagine the humiliation. On top of that it's in front of his love interest, Josie (also a friend since birth until peer pressure gets to her and she goes to the popular crowd.) So on one side I'm thinking, these kids are just mean and how can no one be doing anything to stop this bullying which is clearly taking a toll on Peter, but on the other side I'm thinking...seriously, how could you go into your high school and shoot randomly at students, some of who he didn't even know all because of some stupid classmates.
It also got me thinking from a parent's point of view. Although I'm not a mom yet, I can only imagine what Peter's mom and dad are thinking. His dad is actually the one who showed him how to use a gun and used to take him hunting with him. Is he the reason Peter did this with a mixture of the bullying? Did his mom not pay enough attention to him growing up? He also had an older brother Joey, who he just couldn't quite live up to in his parent's eyes. Is this the reason Peter went on a rampage? To show people that he could live up to expectations and be in charge of something?
If you're in the mood for a book that makes you think and really feel the characters I recommend this book and any other by this author. She also put some interesting websites in the back I think you should check out. The first one is 10 myths about school shootings. The next one is a timeline of school shootings since 1996. It includes some from other countries too. There also happened to be a school shooting just today in Germany. The last webiste is an antibullying website designed by and for kids and teens. I think that's one of the greatest things you can do is really get the students involved in the antibullying process so that they can be held accountable for their actions. I'm not saying it will help all students, because there's always going to be that one or two who don't care.
If you were in Peter's position what would you have done? He told teachers, but nothing was ever done. Sometimes it makes it worse. The person who is bullying finds out he's been told on and then retaliates against their enemy more. How would you have felt if you were Peter's parents? Would you blame it on yourself or their surroundings?