Endgame

Endgame by Nancy Garden
New York, NY: Graphia (2012)
ISBN # 978-0152063771
Pages: 304
Price: $6.99
Reading Level: 12 and up
Interest Level: 14 and up
Reviews
Similar Titles: Give a Boy a Gun bt Todd Strasser, Shooter by Walter Dean Meyers

Annotation: School shootings shatter lives on both ends of the gun.
Summary: Through a series of interviews with his defense lawyers, 15 year-old Gray Wilton’s story emerges as he awaits trial for the murder of four students at his high school. With nothing to lose and no reason to withhold the truth, Gray tells of the emotional and physical abuse he and his friend Russ suffered at the hands of Zorro and several other jocks at the school. All the adults in his life turn a blind eye to the abuse, as well as his father who thinks Gray should “toughen up” and be more like his older brother. The violence and bullying escalate until Gray decides to exact revenge by bringing his father’s semi-automatic weapon to school.
Evaluation: I was afraid before reading this book that it would over-simplify the issue of school shootings, but as I read I was drawn into the characters and the story. Garden is an amazing writer with the ability to create characters that haunt you long after you finish her books. Endgame gives the reader plenty to think about, most importantly the way we treat other and the consequences of our actions. In the wake of the many recent school shootings, Garden’s book would make great classroom reading and discussion.
Genre/Subject: school shooting, bullying, violence, murder, family problems/pressure, social outcast, isolation, powerlessness, despair, revenge, misguided authority figures
Controversial Issues and How to Defend against Challenges: The scenes of violence and bullying in this book are sadly becoming more common in our schools. Young readers can learn about the devastating effects of bullying, and the motivations of a victim who has been beaten down beyond repair.
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: coping with social isolation, bullying, issues of self-worth and abusive situations, school shootings, understanding the lives of others/empathy, teaching people to stand up for each other when bad things are happening, feeling like you can reach out, victims lashing out after too much abuse
Booktalk Ideas: Instead of trying to understand or support him, Gray’s father’s approach is to toughen him up: “Like I told you back at Parker, there are bullies everywhere. What you have to do is not give anyone any reason to bully you” (p. 184). Have Gray tell his father what’s really going on at school. How might he have reacted?
Why I Chose this Book: It was important to me that I include the topic of school shootings in this blog. Sadly, it touching the lives of more and more young people.

Author’s Website (link)

“It’s my hope that Gray’s story will help both kids and adults think seriously about bullying, and realize that stopping bullying needs to be a priority in our schools. I also hope that it will perhaps lead some readers to empathize with Gray — and to thereby understand that people of any age who strike out at others have often been victims themselves.”
– Nancy Garden