Can you imagine not being able to drink, vote, not even being able to drive, yet being placed on trial as an adult and sentenced to the death penalty? Until recently only eight countries in the world still sentenced people younger than eighteen to death for their crimes, and the Susan Kuklin takes her readers into the life of families who’ve experienced murder, violence, and teenagers on death row. No Choirboy interviews families in the cases of five teenagers who have been sentenced to death for their crimes without the chance of parole.
Forging through a world hidden from those on the outside of the prison walls Kuklin gives these young men a voice. They are given a chance to tell their side of the story and what it is like to know that you will spend the rest of your life behind bars and alone. They trace their journey from their upbringing all the way through the happenings of the actual crime and on to their current state.
This book would be an appropriate text for high school students and has the ability to make meaningful connections. The subject matter of the text allows for the opportunity for open ended conversations to take place as well as the integration of present happenings in society. No Choirboy would work well in an English course and even a Political Science or Government class due to the debatable issues over the death penalty. The book may be to mature for kids in junior high as they are all true stories and the text is often hard to handle.
This text is important to read for young adults because it brings up a subject that although may not be experienced by many, is important to know about. No Choirboy really highlights the different paths life takes you and yet how similar each and every one of us is-even when we don’t think we have much in common.
4 comments:
This book would be very useful in high schools especially where African Americans are the majority. Knowing from experience the effect death row has, I think it is important to introduce real life stories to teens to prevent them from going down the wrong path.
I definitely think this book would be helpful in a classroom. I went to Schaumburg High School and I always got the sense that we were going to school in a bubble. That is to say that we were not as exposed to such harsh realities out there.
I think this book would not only open peoples eyes but it would also raise questions about the neighborhoods, families, and upbringing. Perhaps students would then see that some people are forgotten by society and we can take a step closer to closing the gap.
I agree that this book could be really useful in the classroom. It's kind of like if Steve Harmon in Monster had been convicted instead of aquitted. And the fact that they are true stories makes the book seem even more powerful and sad.
Alli, I also drew a connection to Monster. My educational philosophy is based on existensialist notions of the importance of making choices and the relevance of the benefits and consequences of the choices people make everyday, and it sounds like this book might be a good way to highlight this.
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