Book Review: This is Where it Ends

 

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nijkamp, M. (2019). This is where it ends. Sourcebooks Fire. ISBN: 1492671118

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

This novel starts off just minutes after the principal of Opportunity High School in Alabama finishes her speech welcoming the student back in the school auditorium. It is then they discover that the auditorium doors will not open and someone starts shooting as four teens, each with a personal reason to fear the shooter, tell their stories from different perspectives.

 

3.CRITICAL ANALYSIS

As I read through each page, it was very hard to put it down. The story is told from the perspective of four students, Tomas, Claire, Sylv, and Autumn as they each tell the story of a school shooting in Opportunity High School. Each Chapter follows the fifty-four-minute time line of the school shooting. Reading through each of their accounts made me feel incredibly sad and heartbroken that our students in today’s society face similar fears. This novel is very well written, and helps readers connect with the different characters and their feelings and thoughts as they face this difficult situation. Each character adds to the depth of this novel and is relatable. Starting with the school shooter, who is the stereotypical outcast, the troubled boy that is misunderstood. Another example of a relatable action is mentioned in the beginning when Sylv recites a prayer in Spanish as she realizes there is a shooter in the school auditorium. Another heartbreaking moment for me was reading through Autumns words as she realizes the shooter is her brother, who “cared for her bruises when her dad couldn’t contain his grief.” Additionally, Nijkamp also included different social media tweets detailing what is happening, which is similar to what we would see today. Reading through Ty’s comments about retaking, his feeling of losing everything or rather feeling like everything was taken away from him. This reminded me of the sad reality that many teens feel today.  I am not by any means trying to justify their actions but it makes me sad to think actions like these are seen as a solution to their problem. This novel felt all to real for me.  I live in a city that people think is “boring” where “nothing happens” until it does. This novel is a tough read because it is something teens can relate, I couldn’t stop crying as I read about the death of one of teens that was sharing his account of the shooting.

* Note: This may be a different book to read and discuss because school shootings happen so often now.  This may be especially difficult if you live in a community that has experienced a school shooting first hand.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

A Buzzfeed Best Young Adult Book of the Decade

A Paste Magazine Best Teen Book of the Decade

A Book Riot Biggest YA Book of the Decade

A Professional Book Nerds Best Book of the Decade

A Bustle.com Most-Anticipated YA Novel

A Goodreads YA Best Books Pick

A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist for Young Adult Fiction

Starred review in Bookriot: "A compelling, brutal story of an unfortunately all-too familiar situation: a school shooting. Nijkamp portrays the events thoughtfully, recounting fifty-four intense minutes of bravery, love, and loss."

5. CONNECTIONS

*Ask students to complete a “Social Media” post for this novel. Their post should be similar to a book review where they state likes and dislikes. The post should include graphics and specific examples from the story. Students should use the template provided by the teacher.

* Have students explore the different themes of the novel. Ask them to reflect on how each theme is presented. Ask them to think about which theme stood out the most and was the most powerful.

* Engage students in a digital book talk for this novel using FLIP. Students will record and respond to their classmates using the FLIP app. The book talk should discuss the basic plot, the main characters, discussion of the problems the characters faced, and any additional information students would like to share. Remind students to be courteous to others and to stay on topic.

*Those who enjoyed “This is Where it Ends”, would also enjoy these titles.

Brown, J., & Brown, J. (2017). Hate list. Little, Brown. ISBN: 0316556785

Sedoti, C. (2023). Tell me what really happened. Sourcebooks Fire. ISBN: 1492673056

Book Review completed for SHSU's MLA course. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars

Image
  1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Green, J. (2014). The fault in our stars. Penguin Random House Australia. ISBN: 014242417X 2.  PLOT SUMMARY This novel is written from the perspective of a 16-year-old girl, Hazel, who is diagnosed with cancer. At the beginning of the story we learn that Hazel suffers from depression because of her cancer and her parents force her to join a support group.  This is where she meets Augustus, a 17-year-old boy who is in remission and attends the meeting in support of his friend Isaac, who also has cancer. Hazel and Augustus begin to develop a strong bond and during a trip to Amsterdam both teenagers confess their love for one and other. Shortly after the trip, Augustus tells Hazel that his cancer has returned and as his health worsens. He is then admitted to the hospital where he later dies. 3.CRITICAL ANALYSIS Well, where to start…to be honest this was not one of my top choices when deciding on which novel to read. I obviously knew what the story was about to some exten
Read more

Book Review: The Llama who had no Pajamas

Image
  1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY Hoberman, M. A., & Fraser, B. (2006). The Llama who had no pajama: 100 favorite poems. Harcourt Brace & Co. ISBM: 0152055711 2.  PLOT SUMMARY This cute book is a poetry collection with one hundred different poems for young children. These poems center around different activities and animals that children can relate to daily. This entire collection of short poems engages young readers through repetitions, tongue twisters, and rhymes. 3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS After reading the different poems in this book, I thought some poems were silly but cute. Each poem is unique written, catchy, and plays with words.  Hoberman uses a lot of different types of figurative language like repetition, alliteration, and sensory language to engage young readers. As I read through Rabbit , I was quickly reminded Mother’s Goose’s Itsy-Bitsy Spider . As I read through some of the poems, I found myself singing some of the verses. One of my favorite poems in this collection wa
Read more

Book Review: The Book Thief

Image
  1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Zusak, M. (2005). The book thief . Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 0375842209 2.  PLOT SUMMARY Narrated by death, this book tells the story or a young foster girl, Liesel Meminger is surrounded by death. As we learn throughout the story, everyone she loves and builds relationships with end up dying. This novel also shares Liesel’s character development as a 10-year-old who steals books but is unable to read at first. As time goes on, and with the help of her foster dad, she learns to read and comprehend her surroundings, which happen to be during World War II.  As the story continues, readers see how Liesel finds comfort in these books in the words she reads. 3.CRITICAL ANALYSIS This book was such an interesting read. There were so many themes present throughout the story that engaged readers and had them flipping through each page. I though Zusak was a total genius for having death narrating this novel. What I found the most interesting about this story was how deat
Read more