About this title: A schoolbus full of children is hijacked by a terrorist group demanding the closing of a secret U.S. government agency. This story is told from the perspectives of a hostage, a terrorist, an army general involved in the rescue operation, and the teenage son of the army general.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Avon Books
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780380486526ISBN:0380486520
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Signed by previous owner. Nice soft cover, lightly read, light shelf wear to cover, light bend on bottom corner of back cover, one page corner turned down, light aging. Glued binding. 224 p. Audience: Children/juvenile. read more
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover shows minor wear; pages are lightly tanned; some notes and marks in pencil and ink on a few pages. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Avon
Date Published: 1980
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Has some wear, spine creased and slanted, covers just a little brittle, light tanning, all pages intact and tight. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Laurel-Leaf Books
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780440208358ISBN:0440208351
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Used; shelf wear, pages clean and unmarked. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 240 p. Laurel Leaf Books. Audience: Children/juvenile; Young adult. read more
Description: Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 240 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Description: Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 240 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Description: Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 240 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780440208358ISBN:0440208351
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Description: Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 240 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Description: Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 240 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Description: Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 240 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Description: Good. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 240 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
"After the First Death is "young adult" fiction. Like the school bus on which the bulk of the action takes place, you will see the plot coming long before it arrives, flashes all those lights and requires you to wait while it serves its function."
"Categories/Genres: terrorism, father/son relationships, suicide, depression, coming of age
Written well befor 9/11, this book provides an interesting look at a terrorist situation--a group of terrorists kidnapping a bus and threatening to kill the children if their demands aren't met. Cormier is a master at forcing the reader into his characters' heads. During the course of the novel, the reader sees this terrorist situation unfolding through the heads of Miro (a young terrorist), Kate (an 18 year old girl who was substituting for her uncle as the bus driver), and Mark (the general's son used as a pawn). Although Cormier never demands that the reader like any one of these people, he does demand that we understand why they are who they are. The ending is absolutely heart-wrenching because of this."
"This was a surprisingly enjoyable experience with young adult bleak fiction and the writing of Cormier. I read it with a preface of warning, and perhaps it helped to deal with the book having been prepared--for indeed it was no sunshiny, cheerful tale. It addresses the issue of terrorism, and modern war, as four foreign men (who were trained and raised to be terrorists and do this work to regain their homeland)hyjack a school bus full of four and five year old kids, and a young woman, Kate, who happened to sub for her uncle in driving the bus that morning. The set up on a bridge, challenging the US government to meet certain demands to save the lives of the children. The narration of fascinating to me, as the story jumps to many different viewpoints of people involved in the event, but the novel is told in first person only from the military general's son--who is offered up to be a messenger to the terrorist because his father knows he will crack under torture and give away fake infromation that he feeds him first. It is the realization of this that eventually leads the boy to commit suicide, and the novel ends in a beautifully written dialogue between father and deceased son. I loved this huge issues that that this novel raised for me of : the point in bravery, patriotism, labeling the enemy, suicide, and the value of human life. An emotionally exhausting but brilliant novel!"
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