Columbine by Dave Cullen

Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters to arrive at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, the day Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris opened fire on fellow students and their teachers. He has spent the last ten years researching the infamous Columbine shooting to create the first complete account, Columbine, which is available at the library.

Cullen’s intentions in writing this book were to dispel myths propagated by the media after this tragedy occurred. A number of stereotypes, such as the “Trench Coat Mafia” and Goths shooting jocks, were circulated by the media, including Cullen. As an act of apology and from a desire to report the facts, Cullen poured over hundreds of interviews, investigative files, FBI psychologists, and evidence left by the shooters to recreate the series of events that led to Klebold and Harris’ decision to launch an attack on their school. Cullen depicts a very different picture than that portrayed by the media. These boys weren’t outcasts ridiculed at school. In fact, Harris was relatively popular and noted for his charm. Both boys desired to go to their high prom, and Klebold regularly wrote about love in his journal. This tragedy is no longer based on stereotypes, and the media-inspired caricature has been torn away to reveal the killers’ thoughts and motivations.

Although this blog primarily features Young Adult fiction, there is relevance in featuring Columbine, which is a non-fiction book. Cullen’s determination to demonstrate the complexity and depth of the Columbine shooting warrants examination by both teens and adults. The author delivers an important message to be critical of the media and the news they report. As well, Cullen reminds us those tragedies such as Columbine are often more complex than what is reported. As teens (and adults) it is important to remember life and the choices we make are more complicated than where you fit in within the high school ranks.

A Matter of Trust by Anne Schraff (from the Bluford High Series)

A Matter of Trust, written by Anne E. Schraff, focuses on Darcy Wills, a high school student, who helps take care of her grandmother with her younger sister, while her mother works overnight at the local Emergency Room. Darcy was once close friends with Brisana Meeks, who stopped being her friend when Darcy started hanging out with Tarah, Copper, and Hakeem. Brisana sees these new friends are losers, and Darcy is missing out on a more popular high school experience. Darcy has been seeing Hakeem, who often gets made fun of by the other students because he stutters. When Brisana finds out that they are dating she tries to make Darcy jealous.

A Matter of Trust examines the trust we can or cannot place in people. Darcy is not only grappling with the drama started by a former friend but also trying to figure out if she can forgive her father, who walked out on her life when she was younger. Based on his track record she isn’t sure she can place her trust in him. The story also addresses violence acts, including fighting and a drive-by shooting.

The Bluford High Series focuses on the lives of high school students, their family, and friends in contemporary urban America. Many of the characters attend Bluford High School, which is named after Guion “Guy” Bluford, who was the first African-American astronaut. The stories focus on complicated issues that are relevant to many of today’s students, including love, friendship, family, peer pressure, violence, and jealousy. The series has male and female protagonist, who are primarily African-American, and contain elements of mystery, suspense, and romance.

The Bluford High Series is new to the Moore Memorial Public Library. Currently the library has nine of the fifteen books that have been published to date. Anne E. Schraff and Paul Langan are the authors. The books are located on the New Book Shelf area, but will eventually be located in the Young Adult section of the library. A Matter of Trust is the second book in the series. The following books in the series are currently available:

Books by Anne E. Schraff
Someone to Love Me
Until We Meet Again
A Matter of Trust
Secrets in the Shadows
Lost and Found

Books by Paul Langan
Payback
The Bully
Brothers in Arms
Summer of Secrets

Shooter / by Walter Dean Myers

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When an outbreak of gun violence at a public high school is responsible for the death of one teen (perpetrator Leonard) and injury to several others, federal authorities immediately launch an on-scene investigation. Privately conducted and strictly confidential, the inquiries focus on the deceased shooter's two closest friends--Cameron and Michelle--for background info into the "incident's" culmination. Slowly, as interviews and evidence shed light on past events, it's revealed how this not un-routinely disturbed teen was prompted to act out as he did.

Cameron, an upper-middle class African-American teen, offers the best insight into Leonard's increasingly erratic behavior. Likely initiated years earlier by his parents divorce, there was still more to Leonard than suppressed animosity as multiple catalysts likely contributed to the carnage. Reclusive habits, his father's alcoholism, and an intense interest in firearms had begun to inhibit Leonard's relationship with then girlfriend Michelle; or, as she put it, he'd become "impossible" amidst a bitterness only spurned on by the high school's oppressive social heirarchy. The concluded analysis paints a disturbing portrait of a increasingly self-isolated individual, seemingly irredeemable amid personal demons and the antagonism of an outside world.

Written in a memorandum-style etiquette with very official looking transcript annotation, Shooter is another finely crafted work by noted YA author Walter Dean Myers, long one of the genre's most dynamic influences. If for no other reason, readers will find the book worthwhile for Myers' incisive observations into Leonard's psyche; acutely reconstructed through evidence given by Cameron and Michelle and personally rendered in Leonard's own journal entries.