SHOOTING-MONARCHS

1. (Free and download) Shooting Monarchs Shooting Monarchs John Halliday DOC | *audiobook | ebooks | Download PDF | ePub #4493505 in Books Margaret K. McElderry Books 2007-05-03 2007-05-03Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.25 x .40 x 5.50l, .43 #File Name: 1416955593144 pages | File size: 42.Mb John Halliday : Shooting Monarchs before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Shooting Monarchs: 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Richie's Picks: SHOOTING MONARCHSBy N. S.One day when Macy was three his mother and a new boyfriend went swimming in the river. She left Macy home. Since it looked like a nice day, she decided to leave him in the backyard...Then to make sure he didn't follow her or wander off, she took the loose end of an old rope that was wrapped around the swing and tied it tightly to his ankle.""The big day has

2. comeThe bell is soundingI run my hands through my hair one last timeOutside the prison walls the town is gatheringPeople are trading crime for crime..." --Ani Difranco"The sky above the yard had become dark with clouds. A drop landed in Macy's eye and another drop hit his cheek. Then the rain became steady. Macy hadn't had anything to drink for hours, so he closed his eyes, turned his face toward the sky, opened his mouth wide, and caught the drops until his thirst was satisfied."But the rain didn't stop...His clothes were soaked and he was cold. He crawled under the seat of the swing for protection as the rain became a downpour. Then, when night came, he curled up in the mud and shivered. He never cried.""...Everyone needs to see the prisonerThey need to make it even easierThey see me as a symbol, and not a human beingThat way they can kill meSay it's not murder, it's a metaphorWe are killing off our own failure and starting clean...""Macy's teachers were concerned about his poor academic and social skills, but when they called to schedule meetings with his mother, she said she was too busy. All the years Macy was in school, she never met with even one of his teachers. By the end of middle school Macy had stopped going. What should have been Macy's first year of high school was spent in a state juvenile correctional facility, where he had been sent for shoplifting at a liquor store.""...I think guilt and innocence they are a matter of degreeWhat might be justice to you might not be justice to meI went too far, I'm sorryI guess now I'm going homeSo let any amongst you cast the first stone...""The store clerk, Mohammad Aziz, should have been off that night, but he was filling in for his boss. Mohammad had recently immigrated to the United States with his wife and four children, and he welcomed the opportunity to earn extra money. This one night of work would pay for next week's celebration of his son's tenth birthday..."Mohammad was uneasy when he saw Macy. There was nothing extraordinary about Macy's size or clothing, but his face revealed a history of violence. There were several fresh scars, his nose was knocked off center like it had been hit by a truck, and his front teeth were broken. His head was completely shaven to conform to the popular style at juvie. Macy liked the bald look because it was easy to maintain without the help of barbers. The confinement of barber chairs and being touched by people with scissors always made Macy feel uncomfortable.""...You might be the wrong colorYou might be too poorJustice isn't something just anyone can affordYou might not pull the triggerYou might be out in the carAnd you might get a lethal injection'Cause we take a metaphor that far...""On the day of his release Macy went straight to the city and stole an old car. It was a massive gray wreck, at least twenty-five years old, with a rusted hood and a wire clothes hanger where the antenna used to be. The car was so worthless, the owner had left the key in the ignition, hoping someone would take it. The owner never bothered to report it missing."After that Macy went to the pawnshop, bought a gun, and drove away. He had no destination in mind. He just drove."Then he met Maria Hernandez..."This book asks readers, "What would YOU do with Macy after he is finally caught?"SHOOTING MONARCHS is an absolutely brilliant, sometimes bittersweet, appalling, and terrifying read from cover to cover.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Teenage serial killerBy Peggy TibbettsThe lives of six teens converge one Sunday morning on hill in Shiloh. One is shot dead. This is the gripping tale of the events leading up to that disastrous day.Macy is 18 -- and a serial killer. But he wasn't born to kill. The reader is introduced to an innocent toddler, raised by an abusive mother who left him alone outside in the rain for hours, tied by the ankle to an old swing set. Then she came home drunk. By the end of middle school, he was sent to juvie for stealing. When he got out, he stole a car and was sent back. For Macy, the food, accommodations, and attention at juvie were more than he ever got at home. As a rebellious teen, he bought a gun and killed store clerk, Mohammed Aziz. And got away with it. That's how the killing started. After spending a year in prison for attempted robbery, he steals a car, buys a gun and heads off on a killing spree that winds up in Shiloh.Danny is a disabled 16 year-old who lives with his grandmother. He loves monarch butterflies and Leah, the most beautiful girl in Shiloh. He works at The Store with her younger sister, Sally. Leah's boyfriend, Chad is the star athlete and he hates Danny. The Saturday afternoon Macy drives into town, he sees Leah jogging. He chooses her for his next victim and abducts her. In the search for her, the six teens end up on the hill that Sunday morning. One is a killer, one is a victim, and everyone's life changes forever.Told in a third-person, easy-to-read, almost journalistic style, the narrative flits -- like a monarch -- in and out of the lives of the people who cross paths with Macy, those he victimizes and those who victimize him. "Shooting Monarchs" is an excellent teaching aid for any class or discussion about justice or social issues. In the end the reader must decide Macy's fate. Does he deserve the death penalty?1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Disappointing, but still OKBy Cameron MAlthough Shooting Monarchs takes a different approach to making teens think about what they read (on capital punishment and the judicial system), I would prefer a book with some nice closure.I found it difficult to care about Macy, the main character, when all I had was contempt for him. The other characters were almost likeable, but it felt like something was missing.The sentence structure of this book seemed simplistic and undeveloped. I wouldn't recommend it to people looking for a fun or exciting read. Macy grew up unwanted, unloved, and alone. By his teens he had quit school and begun stealing. In and out of juvie, Macy is a shoplifter, a car thief, and, by age eighteen, a murderer.Danny grew up physically disabled, raised by his grandmother, and a loner. Now sixteen, he finds solace in taking photographs, particularly of monarch butterflies, and thinking about Leah, the most beautiful girl in town.It is Leah who unwittingly causes these two very different boys, who share some startling similarities, to meet in a first and final terrifying encounter.The outcome of this hard-hitting

3. and spellbinding novel from an exciting new author will rivet readers and leave them thinking about nature, nurture, justice, and the remarkable power of human kindness. From School Library JournalGrade 9 Up-Halliday's novel examines the formation of a monster from cradle to courthouse, showing the ripple effects of his actions that leave hearts broken and lives torn asunder. Macy starts out as a child with very little hope, few options, and no love or support. His life continues on a downward spiral as he drops out of school and progresses from shoplifting to more serious crimes such as robbery, kidnapping, and murder. The author fleshes out Macy's victims so that readers care about them: Mohammad Aziz, trying to earn money for his son's 10th birthday party; Maria Hernandez, the sole and perfect light in her parents' life; and Danny Driscoll, a scoliosis sufferer and gifted photographer who is able to find beauty in the most ordinary things around him. Readers will be left thinking about the nature of justice, kindness, and the aftermath of violence with a criminal at the center, rather than a character who is beaten down or bullied, as in Todd Strasser's Give a Boy a Gun (S S, 2000). This is a particularly apt and timely theme, and the frightening aspects of the crimes are realistically portrayed.Betsy Fraser, Calgary Public Library, CanadaCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Booklist*Starred * Gr. 9-12. Part exciting thriller, part heartbreaking family drama, this disturbing first novel will make readers rush to the end to find out what happens, then the story will haunt them with the moral issues raised by the characters and their story. Abused and neglected as a child, Macy grows up to be a high-school dropout, then a thief, a kidnapper, and a serial murderer while still in his teens. Misfit Danny, crippled by scoliosis and orphaned at a young age, suffers cruel taunting from his peers but grows into a brilliant, gentle, and compassionate, though lonely, teen. He loves Leah, the most beautiful girl in school, and it is she who unwittingly brings the two young men to the story's fateful climax. Halliday's crisp narration powerfully dramatizes Macy's history as an abused child, making readers sympathize with the brutal teen killer, even as they fear for the victims and their anguished families. Don't look for pat answers in this open-ended novel; instead there are thought-provoking questions about violence, abuse, compassion, guilt, and punishment. The suspense is nearly unbearable, and it isn't over at the close. Roger LeslieCopyright American Library Association. All rights reservedAbout the AuthorJohn Halliday is a professional librarian who lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and four children. Shooting Monarchs is his first novel.