No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row » (First Edition)

SUSAN KUKLIN is the author of more than thirty books for young readers and a professional photographer whose photographs have appeared in Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times. She and her husband live in New York City.

No Choirboy takes readers inside America’s prisons, and allows inmates sentenced to death as teenagers to speak for themselves. In their own voices—raw and uncensored—they talk about their lives in prison, and share their thoughts and feelings about how they ended up there. Susan Kuklin also gets inside the system, exploring capital punishment itself and the intricacies and inequities of criminal justice in the United States.

This is a searing, unforgettable read, and one that could change the way we think about crime and punishment.

Children's Literature

Six anti-death penalty interviews stir up questions about morality and the United States justice system. Three interviews are with men who were convicted of crimes before they turned 18 and blame their youthful ignorance for dooming the rest of their lives. Two interviews are with families that have been affected by death, one that lost a son and brother when he was the victim of murder, and the other that lost a son and brother to the death penalty as a convicted killer. The last is with the venerated lawyer who represents two of the condemned storytellers; he explains why he takes on death row cases. What connects the stories is more than the young age of the offenders, but rather a sense of disbelief. The book pushes the injustice of sentencing teens to death row, but the prison conditions are just as appalling. The constant fear and violence of prison pushes convicts further from their humanity and makes adjusting to outside life, if they were ever to be released, seem impossible. Many of the procedures of lawyers and courtrooms also seem corrupt, to the extent that reading this book almost feels like reading about conspiracies. That is what makes this book ideal for discussion, despite its one-sided presentation. Includes cursing, discussion of rape, drugs, homosexuality, and violence. Reviewer: Renee Farrah