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Written by the journalist who wrote Columbine, I went into this expecting the same hard-hitting, deep dive he produced there. However, here Cullen focuses on the survivors of the Parkland tragedy & how the event spurred them to create a movement. While still emotional, & definitely inspirational, it didn‘t affect me quite the way his book on Columbine. I did learn new facts & am in awe of these teens (now mostly adults).

I clearly remember the afternoon of the shooting. Police sirens were screaming and it sounded like helicopters were on the rooftop of my apartment. Only a year ago we learned about another former student who killed himself, unable to deal with the trauma. Multiple kids… now adults… with suicide attempts… after experiencing this. No one needs automatic weapons besides our military. When the f*ck will laws acknowledge this? And I AM a gun owner.

Traces birth of March for Our Lives in the aftermath of the MSD school mass shooting. David Cullen‘s the media go-to analyst for school shootings, but he recognized that fewer people are concerned with the motive of the shooter. Instead, people are searching for solutions. Sadly, I don‘t think sensible solutions will be implemented in such a divided America. Still a powerful listen.

Not as powerful as Columbine. Important work being done in the aftermath of a tragedy but the book itself didn‘t resonate as much with me.

I know I shouldn‘t be reading this in one sitting, because I know how books and media like this affect me. But I can‘t put it down, and I feel like I shouldn‘t - these incredible kids have been through so much worse. The least I can do is honor their harrowing and unimaginable experience by reading about it. #parkland #davecullen #nonfiction #neveragainmsd

I still remember years ago when we did a lockdown drill at the preschool where I work. My two year olds had just got done hiding and being very quiet. They thought it was such a fun game and told a visitor that we had at the school that day all about it. They were so excited to tell them about how they hide. It broke my heart. They have no idea the danger they are going to face by going to school. We have to do better. #neveragain

It‘s amazing to me that just hours after the shooting occurred, MSD students began talking about rising up and fighting back. Not against their assailant, but against a culture that normalizes active shooter drills and worse, school shootings. Cullen covers their uprising, emotions, realities, and inspiring journey. Excellent on audio too!

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com #thebibliophage2020
#nonfictionchallenge2020 #aboutgunviolence

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ So powerful, I am in awe of these children. I would have liked to have seen some of the art that is discussed in the book, but I was able to Google it.

Reading this it has really only just dawned on me that I was the same age as the kids from Columbine High School and my daughter is the same age as the Freshmen were at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. I admit to not knowing all the nuances of US gun law (I‘m English, so civilian guns are for hunting and clay (skeet) only) but I am shocked by what I am reading. It is heartbreaking.

Good read - uplifting and hopeful. Discusses how the students created the March For Our Lives campaign. Pretty impressive!

#UnpopularOpinion

I have tremendous respect for the students of Parkland, who choose to take a horrific school tragedy and turn it into a call for action against gun violence & a fight for gun safety legislation. It‘s truly remarkable. However, unless Dave Cullen pledged every dollar from the sales of this book towards the fight, I missed the point. The deeper I got into the book, I realized it was very shallow. 👇🏼

Finding inspiration 🙌🏻Kids like these young activists give me hope for the future ♥️

My choice for #1wordtitle #readwithmrbook. It was also my first book of the year. A brilliant read!

Bk1 in today‘s #BookHaul is Dave Cullens new book about the Parkland shootings in Florida in 2018. But like his previous work, Columbine, it‘s more about the survivors & their efforts to not just survive a horrific experience, but to push for change so that no other kids have to go through what they have. I loved Columbine so I‘m expecting to feel the same about this one.

These group of kids are really inspiring. To go through something so horrendous and traumatic & be able to turn that into making positive changes on a large scale and so soon after is amazing. Their personalities & determination really shone through. 👇

I like that this book focused more on March For Our Lives than the actual shooting. I was angry and scared while reading this, and it definitely made me think. 3/15 #Jumpstart2020 #Nonfiction2020 #WinterReadsBingo

Incredible to think that just hours and days after the shooting these young people went on to create a movement.

It‘s really well written this book and more inspiring than I would have thought. #newyearwhodis

I may have overcommitted a bit on my January reading with book tours, my library stack & the #BelowZer00s #buddyread of Case Histories with @Cinfhen & @BarbaraBB but I‘m going to get to books 1 & 2 of @MoonWitch94 ‘s list for the #NewYearWhoDis event. Both Parkland & In a Dark, Dark Wood are on my Kindle & my #TBR list & I have the other 3 I haven‘t yet read (marked with📌)on hold from the library just in case I can fit them in too. 📚📚📚😅📚📚

I said I was going to do my #LibFaves19 list here on Litsy too but I‘m a few days behind. Day 2 was my #9 pick published in 2019. Parkland by Dave Cullen. #librariansoflitsy

I read Columbine years back, and was expectant this this book would be just as well-written and researched; it was. However, the tone and approach Cullen takes in Parkland is distinctly different than Columbine, with years of second-hand trauma informing the shape this book takes. Parkland wasn't entirely what I expected, but it's definitely another accomplishment and well worth the read.

But nothing prepared me for the same kids the next morning. Their eyes were dry, their faces slack. Their expressions had gone vacant. That‘s why I‘m still on the story two years later: I never wanted to see that look again. But what we see today is worse: unsurprised survivors who expected a shooter.

This book was HARD; hard to read because it was emotional, hard to reflect upon because it made me angry at all the ways our government failed and continues to fail to keep us safe because it is beholden to a certain group ((NRA)), and hard because it so beautifully and truly depicted the aftermath of grief, trauma, and recovery. This should be mandatory reading. Another home run for This author, sadly.

This is not a bad book. Just be forewarned, it‘s nothing like Columbine. I didn‘t dislike this book, however at 1/3 of the way through, I realized I couldn‘t imagine reading an entire book on the topic of the birth of a movement. Specifically, a group of survivors of the school shooting immediately banded together to make certain that their classmates didn‘t die in vain. It‘s an honorable story, but not one I want to listen to for ten hours.

The more they learned, the more they found it was like listening to themselves—a better, wiser version of the selves they were fumbling toward. How liberating to discover Martin Luther King Jr. had already done all that work. Brilliantly. He had drawn from Gandhi, and it was amazing how well the principles stood up across time, space, and cultures.

When a gunman struck, the Parkland kids saw poetic justice in the long arc of history, recasting their school so eloquently in the image of its namesake. They had also lost a horrible battle at Parkland, with a human loss this time, but like Stoneman Douglas, they were resolved to mark Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as the final outpost in a generational war.

Parkland changed everything—for the survivors, for the nation, and definitely for me. I flew down the first weekend, but not to depict the carnage or the grief. What drew me was the group of extraordinary kids. I wanted to cover their response. There are strains of sadness woven into this story, but this is not an account of grief. These kids chose a story of hope.

#Neveragain

This one was great on audio. Both heartbreaking and surprisingly uplifting, Parkland tells the story of the activism that rose out of the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida.

#nonfiction #audiobook #marchforourlives

Thankfully, this book is more about the start of the gun safety movement by the Parkland students rather than the actual school shooting. I love that their way of coping with their trauma was to go after something this country is sorely lacking and try to prevent these tragedies from happening again. One thing I really liked was that the perpetrator‘s name was never used - it was always referenced to as ‘the killer‘ or ‘the shooter‘.

Yesterday and today‘s #labsoundtrack - I haven‘t read Columbine yet but it‘s on my TBR. I‘m taking this one slowly as it‘s emotionally heavy and I can‘t cry too much in the lab. #neveragain

I am using this book for June's prompt for this challenge.

@SitsWithaBook

I am using the tagged book for my #52booksin52weeks challenge. As this is a subject that divides opinion and many debates rage but it shouldn't have to have happened in the first place and that is why it makes me mad.

@Schnoebs

Very good. Interesting take on a controversial subject. Lots of issues and ideas to think about. Recommend to everyone to read and see the impact of one life changing event.

@squirrelbrain

How are you getting on with our #buddyread @Birdsong28 ? What are your thoughts so far?

I‘m just about to start Chapter 10. You do feel that you shouldn‘t ‘enjoy‘ a book like this but it is certainly engrossing, interesting and very frustrating.

I like the author‘s writing style and I appreciate the way that, so far, he doesn‘t try to make the teenagers perfect or martyrs - they‘re definitely two-dimensional, flaws and all...

Are you still ok @squirrelbrain to start this tomorrow? #buddyread

This #7dayloan from my local library is going to be a bit longer. I didn‘t factor in my #vacay when I took it out & now I‘m hooked. This is a book EVERYONE should read. #recommendsday #parkland #everylittenstbr

#nonfiction2019 BINGO a book about a movement. Finished another row!

It is inspiring to see the young people us oldies bitch about being apathetic step up and strive to change the world. I thought it was especially awesome that they really made it a priority to include other groups like the peace warriors from Chicago and to try to make their cause nonpartisan. Well done young uns!
More books for the #bookfitnesschallenge #BFC yea!

PARKLAND is an evocative and enlightening narrative of the events following the shooting of 17 students and staff in Florida. Cullen has masterfully captured the thoughts, feelings and mood of the students and their activities as they unfolded... https://www.bluestockingreviews.com/blog/parkland-birth-of-a-movement

“....this is not an account of grief. These kids chose a story of hope.” #Parkland #NeverAgain

FINALLY! My local library updated itself with some quality new books 📚 For the millions of local taxpayers dollars spent on this place, they kinda forgot to invest in BOOKS. 🙄 #bookhaul #locallibrary

I haven‘t read this yet - @Birdsong28 and I are doing a buddy read in June if anyone wants to join us.

However I believe that this tells about how the students #cometogether to grieve, to support each other and also to launch a remarkable campaign against gun violence.

#beatlemaynia

🌟🌟🌟🌟

BINGO! Completed for “something about a movement” in #nonfiction2019. Subtitled “Birth of a Movement,” this pick was a no-brainer. It‘s about a group of inspirational young teens who said “enough is enough” after 17 people were gunned down at their school. They started the March for Our Lives movement, and are working to make legislative changes. I‘m amazed by their passion and determination, and am cheering them on.

@Riveted_Reader_Melissa

Did you know this? I didn‘t! Will be taking my outrage to the polls. 😡

CURRENTLY READING

Got to this part of reading about the Parkland school shooting and it hit me like a brick. I‘m sitting here with tears literally running down my face. Why have we failed our kids? Why are we letting the NRA set the agenda on whether our kids live or die? WHY?? 😢

Thank you @squirrelbrain for the book. No need to worry that you didn't get me a 30th birthday card with the other package as it was great as it was.

We could do the buddy read of this in June if you want? I am using this for a challenge myself.

This was so much more inspiring than I was anticipating. Instead of focusing on the shooting itself Cullen details the activism that came after. I am totally in awe of the Parkland students and the movement they spawned and this book made me respect them even more. I do need to go back and listen to Columbine at some point but I know that book will be even more difficult.

Would any of my fellow Littens like my spare copy of Parkland? Due to Amazon sending me the first copy in a too- large box it was battered to bits so I returned that one. I then somehow ended up with two replacement copies - this one has a very slightly bent front cover (which you can just see on the pic, top right)but is otherwise OK.

UK preferred - first to say yes can have it!