Talk about your difficult read. Columbine is like the Challenger crash and 9/11 to me--a defining moment in my life. I was in college studying to become a teacher back in 1999.
Cullen takes a different topic and makes it interesting in a non-graphic way. He switches back-and-forth on the narratives which might scare some readers off, but it kept me wanting to find out more. I wanted to read about the kid who rolled out the upstairs window and the girl who became a Christian martyr. I didn't want to hear so much about the media and officers messing things up though, but I know that needs to be written about. Nothing of this scale had happened before. Now schools have crisis plans, ID badges and security systems, but chaos would still ensue if something of this magnitude occurred somewhere else. It's scary to think about. The analysis of Eric and Dylan worried me. Eric seemed to be pretty much a goner psychologically, but Dylan could have been helped. As a teacher, am I doing what I can to help these kinds of kids? The ones who seem normal at school but are hurting inside?
I can see teachers reading this book, but I'm not too sure how popular it will be with teenagers. They don't remember Columbine, and the heft of the title will discourage teen readers. I was expecting pictures, but the author stuck with the simplistic approach and didn't include any. I love how his name isn't even on the cover of the book--great design! I hope to add this book to Mr. Lynch's Criminology reading list--it needs some readers at PCHS.
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