Reviews with content warning for Death - Kent State

Wow, oh wow. This book is intense, but oh so necessary to read. I personally didn’t know anything about the shooting at Kent State in 1970 so this was thought provoking and informative. I especially liked the multiple narrators in the audiobook which helped me to follow along with the different perspectives that are woven together to tell the story.

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ravenclaw_percabeth's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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aargot1's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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starrygoldeneyes's review against another edition

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dark informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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renee_reads_books's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Kent State by Deborah Wiles is technically YA and serves a few purposes: to tell young adults today about what happened on May 4, 1970 and help them create context for it; to humanize the victims; and as a sort of call to action in these times we’re currently in.

What made it post powerful for me is that it’s got multiple unnamed narrators who serve as a kind of Greek chorus, providing different perspectives. White and black students are represented, as well as townies, and a National Guardsman. Though they’re never named, each voice is differentiated on the page with different fonts, styles, and placement, so it’s not difficult to keep track. Together they tell the the story not only of May 4, 1970, in Kent, Ohio, but the story of the days leading up to it and how this became the event that brought the Vietnam War home to American soil.

Well-researched and well told. This book was very emotional and one that I believe I'll be re-reading again. It's not very long and because it's told in different narrators and in verse, the part that took a while to get through was really all the emotions it brought up for me. Such a wonderful book about a topic that many today may not even know occurred. Great for teens, adults, and anyone interested in history, activism, war protest, etc.

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alenert's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No

5.0

This book is quick and packs a serious punch, especially if you aren’t super familiar with the details of what happened at Kent State in 1970. Among other things, I liked how she humanized the victims—Allison, Jeff, Sandy, and Bill—highlighting who they were, rather than simply what happened to them. I started this at 12:30am thinking I’d read a little, but couldn’t put it down until I was finished. I’m definitely going to read up on some of the materials Wiles references in her author note.

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library_kb's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a really interesting book that I think could make a really interesting whole class novel for a couple of reasons: its short, there are a lot of historical connections that can be made, and the structure is really intriguing.
The book is told in verse as a conversation between the various perspectives on the events of the Kent State shootings during the Vietnam War protests. I honestly do not know a ton about the Vietnam War, so it was a little hard for me to start reading the book because it took a lot of work and rereading to figure out who might be talking (while different fonts are used for different voices, they are never labeled with an identity--it is up to the reader to infer who/which group of people might be speaking) and what events or people they were referencing. However, as the book continued, it began to make more sense and I felt like I really learned a lot about this time period that I had not previously known.
The structure of the book and the way that the various perspectives were juxtaposed is really interesting and would make a great mentor text for analysis and to spark research and writing projects for students.

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