Partly Cloudy Student
My favorite author is Jodi Picoult. Her novels are extraordinary because what she writes about isn't lame teenage drama with the nerds and the jocks and the populars. What she writes about is real, like cancer, rape, murder, mental illness, suicide, and more. The one novel that really jarred me is called Nineteen Minutes. Although this novel is fiction, I personally think it felt very real. The topic that it's based around is school shootings. Now, we all know that school shootings have had a very big impact on our country over the past couple of years, and that gun control has been a major controversial topic, and I believe that Nineteen Minutes does a good job portraying the events well, and addressing the issue of gun control appropriately. In the novel, Peter Houghton, a troubled and bullied teen, opens fire on his classmates. The book is written from the perspectives of different classmates and gives an inner look on how traumatizing it is to be a victim of a school shooting. The story really got to me, especially because of the fact that I am a high school student who, on top of all the stress of homework, is always afraid of the possibility that our school could be next on the tragic list. I was actually in my history class reading the book when we had some down time, when my teacher announced the horrible tragedy that had occurred in Parkland, Florida. It was a very surreal experience, reading a fiction novel that seemed like something that could never happen in real life, and then being awoken to the true facts that school shootings are very real.
Once when I was scrolling through social media, I saw a post on how this little girl wanted different shoes because she was scared her light up sketchers would give away where she was in the event of a school shooting and lead to her death. No child should have to worry about that. In fact, nobody should have to worry about that. I think it's scary how easy it is to get your hands on something that can cause so much harm and suffering.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in that I too fear, sometimes, that our school might fall victim to a school shooting seeing as it is occurring way too often in other parts of our country. I don't want to feel this way and nor do I think, as a student, should I be subject to this kind of fear.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have never read any of Jodi Picoult's work, but the way you describe her books make them sound so interesting! Thanks for the recommendation!
Jennifer Hu , Fifth Hour.
Ayyy we have matching titles. This was a nice blog post. I searched up 19 minutes and I really want to read it now. I'm glad that others feel the same way I do when it comes to being afraid at school. I was in English class when I heard about the shooting in Florida. It was surreal and I seriously thought that our school could be next. You're right in that school shootings are (unfortunately) too real.
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