The story begins in the small town, New Hampshire; following the lives of a number of characters on a normal day. Throughout the book, time flashes back and forth between events before and after the shooting at Sterling High School that killed ten people. In the past, it is learned that Peter (the shooter) and Josie (the main character) were once close friends. Peter was always the target of severe bullying at school, and Josie often stuck up for him. The friends slowly drifted apart as they got older. In high school Peter is constantly bullied by Matt (Josie's boyfriend) and his crew; which led to the shooting. Later it is discovered that Josie accidently shot Matt once before Peter made the fatal shot. So both Peter and Josie spend years in prison, and soon after Peter commits suicide.
The reason I chose to read this story is because it is an example of gun violence. It proves that most gun crimes happen with kids or teenagers. Kids are at risk from handgun violence every day, and this story is an example of one. Not all children are at risk of handgun violence, but something should still be done to keep any children from being hurt by handgun violence. It would prevent things like in Nineteen Minutes from ever happening again.
I think that bullying is a very big deal, and it has really has. Especially since recently a girl killed herself as a result of being bullied. It doesn't always end where the person who is being bullied kill themselves. Bullying can also end like Columbine did, where a kid goes crazy like, "Peter's rampage"(Picoult 408). I think that something should be done to keep others from being bullied, so that a school shooting never happens.
Works Cited
Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. New York, NY: Washington Square Press, 2007. Print.
Your parenthetical citation is reversed but other than that this was a really good response! 99/100
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