The Taking of Room 114

by Mel Glenn

Book Overview

Did the subtitle jar you a bit? "A Hostage Drama in Poems." Poems?! It works remarkably well. Mel Glenn takes a difficult subject--a berserk teacher holding his students hostage--and lets the drama... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525675485
• ISBN13: 9780525675488
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 182 Pages
• Weight: 4.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 12 to 22 years
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Student Hostages

It is the end of the school year, and the seniors just want to get their yearbooks and stop thinking about school. They have plans to start work or to go to college, and no one can really be bothered with classes. But then Mr. Wiedermeyer, a senior history teacher, locks the door of his classroom behind his students. He has a gun, although he doesn't seem sure of how he is going to use it, and he won't let his students leave. Soon the media is involved, reporting on the story as administrators and police try to puzzle through the notes Mr. Wiedermeyer slips under the door. They aren't sure what to make of the things he is saying, and they are terribly afraid of making a bad situation worse. This story is told in a series of free-verse poems from the minds of the students in the classroom that day and of the others who are involved in the situation. I really liked that there were five poems about each student, one related to each of his or her four years at the high school and then one related to the day of the hostage situation. Mr. Wiedermeyer's notes and his tone of absolute discouragement made me sad and made him seem less like a villain to me. However, I would have liked to have had more background on some of the characters in this story. Sometimes five poems wasn't enough to figure out what was going on in an individual's life.

The Taking of Room 114

Who would like to be hostage? At school even? A teacher named Mr. Wiedermeyer in 1996 held these kids hostage at Tower High School. Everyone was scared. Especally all the parents who had kids locked up in that room. Everyone has there own opinion on this teacher. Some say he is brilliant and others say he is the meanest teacher. Students think he may or may have not done it. Teachers and students say this about him.All the students hopes he passed everybody. The students tell everybody what their plan is after they graduate. I absoultly loved this book.This mystery,daredevil book really can grab your attention. Even by looking at the end of the book you will be suprised and want to read the whole thing. I felt sad at the begining and reliefed at the end!!!!!!!

The Taking of Room 114

The Taking of Room 114 Every poem holds a dream. Every poem tells a secret. Something every human holds. Something every human lives. Something you live in this story. Hear, live, and feel what each individual is going through, their personal problems, their dreams, and their secrets. Feel the love and scars each teenager receives. Live the anxiety every adolescent undergoes and which Mel Glen steers you through as you read on and on and can't stop. Live the shock you would feel if you walked into your last history class with someone you thought was a nice teacher, but found yourself face to face with a crazy Mr. Wiedmeyer and a gun. Perceive desperate moments each troubled teenager, parent and policeman lives through as you read this story. Get driven through the suspense and mystery of this hostage story. Opinion of the reader: I really liked this story, it made me see the different types of people there are and how they think.

It takes a village . . .

A classroom is a community, and everyone in it views and interacts within it differently. This story takes multiple viewpoints, weaving together the strands creating the seemingly-impossible scenario of a classroom held hostage by a gun-toting teacher. While mystifying at first, as the poetic narratives resonate, the world of Room 114, evolved over 4 years of high school, becomes a clear window on the individuals involved, and a mirror of vital issues in youthful society. This book creates images in your mind that resonate long after the last page is turned.

Point=Blank Reality test

The subtle understory of the teacher holding students hostage was the perfect blending element in this tapestry of high school life. If you're looking for TV fireworks=type action in a rescue scene, then this is not the book for you. The slam-bang comes as each student's life moves from freshman to senior, their thoughts and actions a drama that unfolds into their final class with their senior history teacher. You know these people. You went to school with them