Give A Boy A Gun (Nonfiction)

This book was such an eye-opener, even though it was on the easier side compared to many of the other books I've read, it was so captivating and it felt like I was watching a movie. Give a Boy A Gun is the true story of a school shooting, complete with interviews with friends and classmates of the two boys who did it. It was so identical to Zero Hour, the documentary based on Columbine. The story specifically really told not just the boys' stories, but their classmates also. This book had really told the very real truth about school violence and just hate in general and how reaching a state where you're willing to die to have vengeance is a long, painful process and how even the innocent children we know can become cold and angry. I really empathized with the shooters and their friends, not very common seeing as I had always believed you had to be the bad one to hurt other people, but I learned that the boys went through more pain then imagined. The book really questioned human nature, is it good or bad? How far do you have to push someone to get them bloodthirsty, and do you even have to do anything to get caught up in it? Lastly, one of the best things about this book is that you learn that no one was the bad guy, just like no one was the good guy-except for the girl who saved them in the end-everyone just did what they thought was right of them, even if it did lead to some heinous consequences.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: The Real Deal (memoir)

This book was actually quite amazing, even memoirs that were just two pages held much emotion and many were those I could empathize. There were specifically many great poems, especially one called "Being a Friend" by Rosie Olseda that I really thought excelled in expressing friendship. Unlike most of the stories and poems so far, this one actually had some some happiness in it along with the sad like when it said "Life's challenges cause you dismay./The world forgets you./A friend gives you love." Memoirs and personal poems usually hold a certain aspect that is lost in fiction, and that's real character. It's not about always being the good guy or the bad one, and like many of the writers in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: The Real Deal, they changed dramatically because of the people in their lives. There were also other great poems that involved romance and heartbreak, like an especially good one titled "I Called You My Best Friend" which is a poem about a girl losing her best friend when he confesses his true feelings to her and she rejects him. It ended with this amazing statement, "I will never know/What you were to me./You made me wonder/What my mind was really thinking,/What my heart wanted to say/When I gave you my hand/And held yours tight." This book really was phenomenal since you got to read about so many different people in life situations and what they learned, this book is more on the romantic, cheesy side, so action-thriller fans might not go for it. I though, give it a 10/10 for the great stories and poems.