Why was Hannah unable to deal with the things that happened to her? Why was she unable to get help/allow people to help her? What support did she or did she not have? What does her experience teach us about children, schools, and educators? Jay Asher has a blog. This book has made the NY Times Best Seller list.
This is a fictional story of Hannah Baker. Before committing suicide, she sends a tape of 13 joined stories to those who she believes were instrumental in her death. One of the recipients is Clay Jenkins, who once had a crush on Hannah; he would have helped her if he could and listens brokenhearted to her tapes. It didn't pass by us that there were 12 "bad people" and one potential "savior." We've seen that number configuration before.
We were fortunate to have two teenagers join us for this meeting. They had also read the book and were generous in sharing their observations and experiences in High School. One of the teenagers had literally found the book on the floor (after seeing it in the hall for days), picked it up, and started reading it. She couldn't put it down and neither could we! The story draws one in and is riveting.
The following books/people were brought up during our discussion and informed our conversation. Some of us had seen these folks present in just the past 10 days or so and their ideas were fresh in our minds.
Rachel's Challenge is an anti-bullying program which focuses on spreading the "chain reaction" of kindness.
Ruby Bridges is still alive and for the past 8 years has been telling her story. Her first grade teacher, Ms. Henry, is also still living, and she lives in Boston.
Richard M. Lerner wrote The Good Teen: Rescuing Adolescence from the Myths of the Storm and Stress Years.
The teenager perspective reminded us that "this kinda of thing" happens. Nowadays, High School Freshman year is the pits! You're in/You're out of social groups. Bad reputations begin, sometimes started by your own best friends. They deal with it, why couldn't she? According to them, why was Hannah so whiny?
Interesting question. We noticed that her background story was missing. What was it like in the town where she used to live? Did she leave and move here to get away from another reputation? Where were her parents? Why didn't they notice and intervene? It seems Hannah didn't have near the same support these girls (our daughters) have. She had no where to turn, no one that gave her the extra special attention, and no sense of her own identity.
We thought the café book was a cool idea. Write a note in it and keep it in the store. Some bed and breakfasts places do that too!
We thought the "watcher" was an interesting character. What made Hannah choose him to hold the second set of tapes? What must it have been like to be the one to watch each person receive those tapes? Poor teacher, the last one to get it.
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