hatelist

__Hate List__ by Jennifer Brown ISBN: 978-0-316-04144-7 c2009 406 pages

Good sections to read aloud: -Chapter one - italics where the shooting is described according to a newspaper report

Summary: Our main character and narrator, Valerie, has just gone back to Garvin High School for her senior year. In May, Valerie’s boyfriend, Nick, shot, killed and wounded a large number of students and staff members that were on his and Valerie’s ‘hate list.’ Valerie had started it several years prior to vent. She had no idea that Nick would later target those individuals and intend to kill them. She has to spend a large amount of her senior year healing both emotionally and physically (she took a bullet to her leg protecting others from Nick’s wrath). Many students are angry that she is back as they feel she is to blame. Others just ignore her. With the help of Dr. Hieler, her psychologist, she spends her senior year trying to figure everything out, heal, and get through other friend and family issues that occur.

This book does start with a school shooting, but it **IS NOT** the core of this novel. It’s really a book about how terrible teenagers can treat one another, and how things can spiral out of control. It also shows just how tough of an age high school can be with a lot of issues…both family, friends and school related. A MUST READ.

YA Fiction--teen issues; school shootings; high schools; emotional problems; family problems; forgiveness; bullies

©Jennifer Lang - WDMS - 2013