Hate List by Jennifer Brown Grades 7+ 416 pages Little, Brown September 2009 Hardcover     One spring morning, Valerie Leftman follows her boyfriend, Nick, into the commons area of their high school. Expecting him to confront a bully about breaking her MP3 player, Valerie - along with the rest of the student body - is stunned when Nick pulls out a gun and begins shooting. As classmates dive for cover, it becomes apparent that Nick is targeting kids from a “hate list” she created. When it’s over, Valerie herself has been shot while unconsciously saving another student; Nick is dead. After a summer of seclusion, including a stay in a mental health ward, it’s time for Valerie to head back to school. Will the kids consider her a hero or a monster? The thing is, even Valerie doesn’t know which one she might be. A humor columnist for The Kansas City Star, Jennifer Brown’s debut novel is anything but humorous. In fact, Brown’s book proves that sometimes jokes can go too far, and words spoken and actions done in anger can escalate into unnecessary violence. We have all been guilty of spouting these or similar words in anger - “I could kill you” - without ever intending their true meaning. Would we then be guilty if someone else took us seriously and followed through on that objective? Hate List is a poignant story of physical and emotional survival for everyone involved. It gives much food for thought; as the old adage states, hate only breeds more hate. Let us find peace instead.     web reviews   Niki Masse Schoenfeldt/2010 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)