Give A Boy A Gun is a book written by Todd Strasser. Morton Rhue, the penname of the american author Todd Strasser (born May 5, 1950 in New York, USA), is an author of young-adult novels, including Boot Camp, Asphalt Tribe and The Wave, a novelization of a social experiment which happened in Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California during...

The book's climax is a shooting, where the main characters, Brendan Lawlor and Gary Searle hold a number of classmates and teachers hostage in the gym during a school dance. However, the viewpoint of the book is largely anti-bully, and shows how, through years of bullying, Brendan and Gary are driven to a point where they would do something so drastic. The story is told through monologues/flashbacks, and you see everyone's point of view, except Brendan and Gary. The reason for this is revealed at the end, because Gary commits suicide, and Brendan is beaten into a coma.

The book was adapted into a play by Elena M. Garcia, an acting teacher at American Heritage School in Plantation, Florida.The characters Brendan and Gary are played by David Berry and Mitchell Sunderland. Garcia has produced many plays in the past, including a largely popular production of Medea (by Shakespeare). The play differs from most in that most of the actors stay onstage for the entire play. Also, the set is simple, composed of four ramps, eight blocks, and four stairs, all of these being movable. There are thirty-two actors in the play, while there are four central characters, the aforementioned Brendan and Gary, and their closest friends, Ryan Clancy and Allison Findley. The play is being performed on November 15-18, at 7:30 (EST) each day. It has been considered controversial, but is still being performed. The plot focuses on Brendan and Gary's gradual transformation, from innocent, though picked-on children, to cold-hearted killers. One scene in particular, at a football party, Brendan is beaten up by a football player for holding a gate open for a cheerleader. Had it not been for Dustin, the only football player in the play shown in a favorable manner, Brendan would not have survived this incident. Brendan's rejection from military school is the metaphorical "final straw" that breaks Brendan, leading to him and Gary taking action. This is a reference to Columbine, and how one of the shooters was rejected from military school, two weeks before the shooting.

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