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    No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row
    No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row
    No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row
    Audiobook5 hours

    No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row

    Written by Susan Kuklin

    Narrated by Suzanne Toren, Nyambi Nyambi, Steven Boyer and

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    About this audiobook

    Imagine having everything taken away from you-permanently-with no hope of resuming a normal life. This is the case for many teenagers in America who are tried and convicted as adults for the crime of murder. Here Susan Kuklin takes you behind bars for frank interviews with a collection of young men who will spend the better part of their lives in jail. She lets them speak for themselves, providing the raw details of their incarceration and the anger, despair, and surprising hope they experience every day. Kuklin also provides an in-depth look at the American penal system, highlighting its many intricacies and inequities while focusing on capital cases involving juveniles. Chosen by School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews as a Best Book, No Choirboy is an honest examination of a pervasive problem in America. A full cast of Recorded Books narrators captures each of these unique voices for a powerful audio experience. "Searing and provocative."-Booklist "An eye-opening account."-Horn Book Magazine, starred review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMay 24, 2013
    ISBN9781470355814
    Author

    Susan Kuklin

    Susan Kuklin is the author of nonfiction books for young adults and children, including No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row. She is also a professional photographer whose photographs have appeared in Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times. She and her husband live in New York City.

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    Reviews for No Choirboy

    4/5

    58 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      These stories underscore faults in America's criminal system, but the gut wrenching part is the simple, stark way each guy describes their crime. The banal moments that lead to ending up on death row made the book for me. Clearly, the author is not pro-death penalty, the stories have a bias, but the interviews with these guys are their own justification for the book's leanings.

      As soon as I put the book down, I re-watched the documentary At The Death House Door. The film is about a retired chaplain who used to work in the Walls unit at the prison in Huntsville, TX - the prison mentioned in Chapter Four of No Choirboy. I really enjoy observing similar situations from different positions, and the film dovetails with the last three chapters of the book beautifully. Neither the book nor the film is particularly dogmatic, and I think I might be able to potentially structure a teen program around them.

      Also, have a quote from the book that pretty much embodies the emotional gut check you'll find in each story:

      The sheriff – he died a few months ago – did the best thing anyone ever did for me. When I passed my GED, he let me go to the graduation ceremony. Cap’n’ gown, suit and tie. No handcuffs, no shackles. He got my mom to buy two long-stem roses, one for my teacher and one for my girlfriend.
      I was in the free world with regular people. He made the guards wear suits and ties like everybody else. That’s the coolest thing anyone ever did for me in my life!
      That sheriff, he caught hell doing what he did for me. “Why you let that murderer out?” Oh, he caught hell.
      Later, I wrote him. I wrote him right before I got off death row. I told him that was the single most important thing anyone done for me. I appreciated him. I didn’t expect him to do it. I said, “I appreciate everything you did. Even though I be on death row, I’ll do whatever I can to better myself. And if you can’t write back, I will understand.” – Roy Burgess Jr.
    • 3/5
      Mature reading.
    • 3/5
      Brutal look at how prison can destroy you. It also shows how the lack of education can allow bad things to happen to you.
    • 5/5
      Raw, intense, powerful.
    • 4/5
      No Choir Boy is a riveting, nonfiction depiction of the life and evolution of people who were sentenced to death row before they reached the age of eighteen. Kuklin, through interviews with the inmates and their lawyers, as well as family members and friends, shows how the sentencing to death of people before they can even vote is not only harsh, but potentially fundamentally flawed. No Choir Boy not only drives home the humanity of the inmates, it provides an insight into a life that many troubled teens could face, and shows just how harsh a consequence life choices can hold.
    • 5/5
      If you’re a teenager and sentenced to death row, what is your life like? In No Choir Boy, author Susan Kuklin provides answers to that question by interviewing three men who were sentenced to death when they were teens. Each story opens up with the circumstances surrounding the individual’s sentencing, and then delves into the time he has since spent in prison. The men explain the environment of each prison they have resided in, and prison culture is laid bare for the reader. The cruelty the men endured as teenagers in prison is disturbing, as is the fact that they adjusted to the lifestyle and now know no other way of life. Kuklin recorded her interviews with each of the men, and the transcripts from those recordings are what comprise the book. She allows them to tell their own stories, and only interjects with her own words when further explanation about a situation is necessary. When such a situation arises, the author’s words appear in italics. Each man has his own chapter that is divided into sections, in which he tells the story of how he came to be in prison, and gives his background, giving readers a firm idea of the environments these convicts originally came from. In some instances, Kuklin also corresponded with the convicts’ lawyers, and those transcripts are also included in the book. No Choir Boy comes to a powerful end with the interviews of the families of a boy who was killed after being sentenced to death (and whose controversial case rocked the nation and changed the capital punishment law for juveniles) and a boy who was murdered, but whose parents did not seek the death penalty for his young murderer. “Everybody has parents. Mom and Dad lost their son, and someone else was going to lose their son if “justice” was carried out?” says Mary, the sister of the murdered boy. The end of the book contains a glossary of legal terms, further reading, and websites about the death penalty, so readers can do some of their own research on the topic. Not for the faint of heart, No Choir Boy is best suited for high school.  
    • 5/5
      This book is important. Young adults and adults alike will benefit from reading these interviews with young convicts, their families, the families of victims, and the lawyers who work with them. For anyone interested in our criminal justice system or curious about life in prison, or for anyone with strong feelings about capital punishment, this book matters.
    • 4/5
      Chapters explore the lives of juveniles convicted of crimes, some of whom are on death row, and the impact of the death penalty on juvenile offenders, families, and the families of victims. Kuklin lets those being highlighted in her book tell their stories in there own words. She also incorporates transcripts, correspondence, and other information. It was an enlightening read and a look at a complex problem that is clearly continuing a cycle of violence and suffering. Kuklin incorporates many different perspectives on the issue at hand which adds depth and complexity to the work.
    • 5/5
      A very gritty reality of teens on death row. The author talks with the teens, a victim's family who are against capital punishment and a lawyer that wants to prevent injustice in this world. The stories are sad and very eye-opening. I agree that this is a must read for high school students.
    • 4/5
      A series of interviews of teens who were convicted of murder and sentenced to the death penalty or life in prison. This book is valuable for its vivid descriptions of life behind bars, and it really drove home for me how racist, arbitrary and unfair our criminal justice system, in particular the death penalty, is.
    • 5/5
      This is a very powerful book that I think should be required reading for all high school students. It examines the life of teenagers tried for murder as adults and put on death row or life in prison without parole. You get to know these teens and how they live now. The book also talks to victim's families, so you get their perspective as well. This book has the power to open minds and change lives!