Making Up Megaboy

I think this book is great as a theatre activity. You take the characters in the book and give each one to a different student. Then have the kids read the book as a whole with each person acting out their character. I really like the story and the book.

A short book that will take YA readers less than an hour to read but will give them food for thought for days to come. I've used it with an 8th. grade class with very positive results. The students saw the shallowness of the young girl as well as the prejudices against certain ethnic groups and young people. The book is realistic in that it doesn't answer the question of "why?" This is a terrific book to use to stimulate discussion of several topics: timeliness/reality, graphics, characterization, style of writing.

With news this morning of the conviction of yet another teenaged murderer, I am sadly reminded, once again, just how timely and poignant Virginia Walter's Making Up Megaboy is. Certainly this is a dark book; but these are dark times when kids feel the need to act out their anger and insecurities by killing others. What this book tells us, through its multiple points of view, is that we are all responsible for helping today's youth reach their maximum potential. As a librarian who has worked with young adults for many years and as the aunt of four adolescents, I feel Making Up Megaboy should be read and discussed by all pre-teens and their parents.

Virginia Walter and Katrina Roekelein have put a lot of thought into this small, tragic tale. It doesn't answer the question we all have --Why?-- but it's got more depth and more breadth than all the news stories put together. I had a couple of small disagreements with the graphics, where I thought the designer sacrificed reality and readability for design. But the people are marvelous: the pricipal with the one-track mind, the shallow material girl, and the good friend of whom Robbie's parents didn't approve. And Robbie, who probably has no more idea than anyone else why he destroyed all those lives.