Hate List

morgan_johnson1 - I have decided to read this book because I have read a lot of great reviews about it. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat. You will want to read page after page. It is very funny, dramatic, interesting and sentimental. It will keep you on ease because it is so suspenseful. It is about a girl named Valerie who has a boyfriend named Nick. The two of them made this book of people they hate. A few weeks later Valerie has been worrying about Nick because he is always with his friends smoking illegal things. One day Nick takes the hate list seriously and brings a gun to school and shoots students and teachers. He shot the principal and Valerie. He even shot himself and died. Valerie had to stay in the hospital and heal for a while. Valerie has a tough time going back to school because everyone, even her parents, think she was part of the shooting. I have read this book 3 times. Every time I have read it, I could never put it down. I have read many books by this author. She is a two-time winner of the Emma Global Humor Award. That is why I have decided to read this book and write a review about it.

Starred review from September 14, 2009
When Val and her boyfriend Nick write the names of the people who torment or annoy them in a notebook dubbed the “Hate List,” she has no idea that Nick will use it as a checklist the day he brings a gun to school, killing several people, including himself, and wounding many more. Brown's riveting debut initially cuts between the day of the shooting in May and the following September when school begins again, then focuses on the aftermath of the shooting and the rest of Val's senior year; newspaper clips are interspersed throughout. Val's guilt is explored in realistic scenes with a therapist; she helped write the list (“ started as a joke. A way to vent frustration”) but also stopped the shooting by taking a bullet for popular student Jessica, now Val's staunchest defender. Val's complicated relationship with her family, Jessica and the surviving victims, as well as how she comes to terms with Nick's betrayal, are piercingly real, and the shooting scenes wrenching. Her successes are hard-won and her setbacks, such as her father's inability to forgive her, painfully true to life. Ages 15–up.

Starred review from October 1, 2009
Gr 8 Up-At the end of their junior year, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend pulls a gun in the Commons, leaving six students and a teacher dead and many others wounded. Valerie is hit by a bullet in the leg trying to stop him, just before he ends his own life. Until that point, Valerie had no idea that the "hate list" that she and Nick created would be used to target victims in a vengeful shooting spree. For her, the list of tormentors was a way to ease the pain of being bullied and an outlet against the constant fighting between her parents. Although the police investigation reveals that Valerie had nothing to do with the actual shootings, many people in her community, including her parents, have a hard time believing that she is not at fault, too. With the help of a patient and insightful therapist, Valerie bravely returns to school after the summer to face the challenges before her. Told by Valerie in then-and-now chapters, with a few "excerpts" from local newspaper articles added for perspective, this is a startling, powerful, and poignant account of the incidents leading up to, immediately following, and continuing through the teen's senior year of realization and recovery. Valerie is stronger than she knowsa beautifully drawn character who has suffered pain, guilt, and incredible stress as she heals from the shooting, the loss of a troubled boyfriend she deeply loved, and difficult family circumstances. Readers drawn to Jay Asher's "Thirteen Reasons Why" (Razorbill, 2007) and Brooke Taylor's "Undone" (Walker, 2008) will snap this novel up as well."Diane P. Tuccillo, Poudre River Public Library District, Fort Collins, CO"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
Grades 9-12 It is September, and senior Valerie Leftman is heading back to school. Five months earlier, her boyfriend, Nick, opened fire in the school cafeteria, killing six and wounding others before committing suicide. Despite being wounded herself while trying to stop Nick and save classmates, Val has been the focus of police investigations and rumors due to the Hate List, composed of classmates names, which she created to vent her frustration about bullies. Struggling with guilt and grief, Val begins school as the ultimate outcast, but she finds one unexpected ally. Most books about school shootings focus on the horrifying event itself, but this debut novel breaks ground by examining the aftermath. Brown uses a creative structure of alternating narratives that incorporate excerpts from newspapers. The characters, including the many adults, are well drawn and become more nuanced as Val heals and gains perspective. Filled with unanswered questions, this compelling novel will leave teens pondering the slippery nature of perception and guilt.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)