The Taking of Room 114: A Hostage Drama in Poems
Students in Mr. Wiedermeyer’s senior history class are in for a shock when they attend one of their last classes of the year. Held hostage by their gun-toting teacher, they all wonder if this might be not only the end of school… but also their lives. Trapped in the classroom, the students think about their years at Tower High. Five poems about each teen- as a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, and on the day they are held hostage, reveal the dreams, secrets, and fears of modern teens in an urban high school. As police, school administrators, and frustrated parents and spectators try to understand the puzzling and bitter notes that Mr. Wiedermeyer slips under the door, the hidden life of the high school comes to light. Readers will be gripped by the suspenseful story, and will find their own lives reflected in these honest, hard-hitting poems. Reviews: "A highly satisfying increasingly tense read" - Denver Post "Writing in conversational free-verse trains of thought, Glenn probes the hopes, fears, conceits, and moods of students, officials, and bystanders, introducing each of the hostages with a series of vignettes that trace the evolution of a particular idea or relationship through four years of school and to the beginning of class that fateful day." – Kirkus Reviews Awards: A Best Book for Young Adults, 1998 - American Library Assocation Young Readers Choice Award nominee, 2000 - Pacific Northwest Library Association Excerpts: Click here to read excerpts from The Taking of Room 114 |
