Lois Duncan

A joke about killing the toughest teacher in school, the one who demands the most and gives the lowest grades, becomes a topic of serious discussion among the boys in the local hangout.

Killing Mr. Griffin

Sarah Sammis

Kids these days. They're out of control. They can't read. They can't write. They're just violent pot smoking thugs. They need tough love from their teachers. But can the teachers survive teaching such barbarians? That's the gist of Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan and about half the other plots coming out of the late 1970s, early 1980s (be they in the form of television, film or novels).

In the case of Killing Mr. Griffin, Griffin is a tough new English lit teacher. He hasn't been there long enough to be an "institution" at the school and thus doesn't have the respect of students he's supposed to be teaching. He expects a lot from his class and won't accept late assignments. The problem with his strict approach to teaching is he doesn't give any hint at being fair or reasonable.

The small group of students portrayed quickly take on a mob mentality. Susan, who ends up being painted as the sweet victim of circumstance comes up with the idea of doing away with him but it's Mark who actually puts the plan into action. The group dynamic with Mark at the helm doesn't ring true to me. Of course there is school violence but it's typically aimed at the school, during school hours and the kids who commit the crimes work solo or possibly in pairs. They don't have a ring leader who comes up with "the perfect crime." They just don't.

Between the accidental death of Mr. Griffin and the end the plot takes a few more unusual turns to show how a single psychotic mind can manipulate a group into doing horrendous things. The whole thing reads like a very dated, "very special" episode. I know the book has won awards and is on the most challenged list but for me the book is a product of its era and doesn't stand up well. Frankly, it would have annoyed me if I'd read it when it was first published.

Sabrina

Jessica 

FULL REVIEW HERE: http://bookandbroadway.blogspot.com/2...

Killing Mr. Griffin was one of the very first books I obsessed over (I’m not kidding, it stayed with me for years after the first read – I even loved the cheesy, made for television adaption of it) and as an early teen, no one’s writing took me on a frightening thrill ride quite like Lois Duncan.

She is, and always will be, one of the queens of suspense in the young adult genre - her work has aged incredibly well (with a few exceptions in phrases and names, which isn't anything to get riled up about if you recall the original print date) even now in the decades that have passed since publication.

Even if you aren’t familiar with her work by her name alone, it is likely you’ve seen loose adaptions based upon specific stories. I Know What You Did Last Summer perhaps being the most prominent one and Stranger With My Face being the most recent.

In 2005, while in middle school, I was assigned Killing Mr. Griffin for an English project. I remember scoffing at the names and the way they talked and yet I found myself drawn to the settings, the plots, the characters and the spine tingling way Lois portrayed everything. When I flipped my pages back to read how old it was, the names suddenly made sense. And the, shock: it was just too good. Impossible to put down.

At the time, it felt like Lois Duncan could probably make a glass of orange juice frightening if she wanted to and this is what connects a younger audience to her books and continues to captivate them all these years later. She writes her books for a younger crowd, perhaps to give them their first taste of thrillers, so her writing is simple and to the point. Reading them now reminds me of sitting at a campfire and being told spooky stories.

Back to the review. When you’re in school and have a reading assignment, especially at such a young age, you almost never expect to enjoy the story you’re studying - but Lois’ writing draws you in and refuses to let you go; leading you down a fast track of having finally found something good to read. Lois, in other words, made reading fun and simple.

(And spooky.)

Most of the peers in my class loved it just as much as I did. A group of high school students, a majority of them being decent kids who just do idiotic things, decide to play a prank on their overly mean teacher, Mr. Griffin to “teach him a lesson.” Their plot is stirring in rather quickly: they'll 'kidnap' him, they'll have some fun with it and scare him a bit, and then they'll let him go.

But, as they say, sometimes even some of the best laid plans go wrong…

Killing Mr. Griffin

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