A martyr’s best friend who survived the school shooting tries to tell the truth of what happened that day in the bathroom.
General Information:
- Age Range: 12 and up
- Price: $12.39
- Grade Level: 7 – 9
- Lexile Measure: 720
- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Scholastic Press (August 28, 2018)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1338186523
- ISBN-13: 978-1338186529
Plot:
This book is about the aftermath of a school shooting. There were 6 survivors that the gunmen had contact with and five of them stay in touch every year. One of the survivors was named Lee and she was in the bathroom stall hiding with her best friend Sarah who was killed by the gunman. Sarah became a martyr through what ended up being an untrue story. Everyone thought she died defending her faith to the gunmen but in reality that is not what happened. This story explains the process of healing and understanding of what happened in this traumatic event three years before. This story of healing and understanding leads to the truth and various underlying issues with some of the survivors being discovered and worked through. Ultimately it ends with Kellie Graynor the girl who actually had the cross necklace everyone thought was Sarah’s and the girl who got ran out of town by trying to tell the true story.
Reading and Interest Level:
The book is marketed for grades 7-9 and ages 12-14. This is the correct rating for the interest level as well, especially after comparing it to other school shooting books. It is not nearly as dark or graphic but it still explains the process of healing that takes place after such a traumatic event.
Evaluation:
This book was well written, especially for being about a tough topic, while being oriented for a younger audience that other school shootings books. It terrific in the sense that the author does not make it about the shooter at all but rather the victims and the aftermath they have to deal with. It is about coming to terms with what happened and being able to speak out and tell the truth whether people want to believe you or not. It is a valuable lesson in staying true to yourself and understanding that healing is process and support is one of the key pillars of recovery.
Bibliotherapeutic Value:
The bibliotherapeutic value in this book is extremely high as the amount of school shootings has been a mainstay in our news for the past decade. It seems as if there are is a new school shooting every other week on the news and it predominantly is in high schools across America. Unlike the other school shooting books on this list this one is oriented for a younger crowd and is 100 percent on the healing process after the traumatic event of a shooting. The story takes place three years after the fact and it highlights many important issues such as keeping things bottled up and turning to alcohol, to letting lies get out of hand to the point that a young girls life gets destroyed. It talks about how important it is to truly recover and how even though the truth my not be accepted by everyone, if the victims don’t find the truth there lives may end up unraveling later on.
Issues Present:
The issues present in this book are not actually about the shooting. The real issues are about bullying, alcoholism in minors, and a negative view of christianity as the most commonly challenged themes. The society itself turns on Lee just like they turned on Kellie when the truth was trying to be revealed. As for alcoholism is in reference to Eden who is a college freshman now and is turning to alcohol as a way of coping with the traumatic events. The issue about the negative view of christianity is in reference to how the community turns on Lee. The community is a christian community in a small town and they outcast and bully Lee in response to her trying to tell the truth. They were more concerned with pushing their agenda than helping out this young lady. Obviously this is not very Christian like which caused some outcry.
Defending the Title:
The way to defense the issues that I have presented are to explain the importance of how important it is to present some of these views to teens. The idea of turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism as a young teen is a very real reality. This book helps them realize that it does not help with anything and only drives you deeper into despair. The issues of bullying are also very real and a part of teens daily lives. The most difficult issue to defend would be the idea of a negative view of Christianity which is generally brought up by Christians. The book does not say all of Christianity is bad but when a lie gets out of hand certain groups such as religious groups may try to use it to further their agendas rather than get the truth out there.
Book Talk Idea:
The book talk idea that I would like to present would be to follow the letters that Lee has everyone write and try to understand them based off of the problems those characters are facing within the book. These letters give great insight and end up being part of the final healing process for these children. Pages: 47-55, 118-129, 181-189, 274-276, 285-296, 308-325
Genre:
The Genre of this book is Teen Fiction: The story of healing after the traumatic events of a shooting three years earlier.
Similar Reads:
Authors Website:
Awards:
N/A
Professional Reviews:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kody-keplinger/thats-not-what-happened/
https://www.newyorker.com/books
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37825410-that-s-not-what-happened
Why I chose this book?
I chose this book amongst the other school shootings books because of the hook that they specifically never mention the shooters name. Not once is the shooter given attention where the other school shooting books clearly indicate who the shooter was and some background information about them. This book was one hundred percent about the victims and how they found the truth and used it to recover. It was a really good read and is definitely an important book to think about including in a collection.
Librarianship 