A Heart in a Body in the World

Printz and/or Printz Honor

1. Bibliography
Caletti, D. 2018. A Heart in a Body in the World. New York, NY: Simon Pulse. ISBN 9781481415200

2. Summary
Annabelle Agnelli goes through a traumatic experience that the reader is left wondering about. In the beginning, the reader is only aware that because of this experience, Annabelle decides to run from Seattle to Washington D.C. to meet senators and members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. On the trip, her grandfather follows her along in an R.V and they meet some interesting people along the way. Back at home, her friends Zach and Olivia make the world aware of the great cause that Annabelle is doing and help raise money for her and her grandfather. Annabelle's friends set up an interview and have Annabelle give a speech to the Carnegie Mellon Gender Studies program. Before the speech, the reader is now aware that the traumatic experience that happened was that The Takerhot her best friend, Kat Klein, and boyfriend, Will MacEvans, to death at a bar-b-que party. The Taker showed signs of depression, and aggression but Annabelle was always there for him. After a while, Annabelle became scared of The Taker, but he always found a way to be alone with her. When Annabelle tried to push him away, The Taker became jealous and angry when he saw Annabelle was back together with her boyfriend, Will. The Taker knew Annabelle and Will would be at the party, but not knowing that it was Kat who was hugging Will and not Annabelle, The Taker shot and killed Kat and Will. After her speech, Annabelle finally arrives in Washington D.C., where she meets officials and discusses gun violence. She then has to build up the courage to come face to face with The Taker in the courtroom where they sentence The Taker (Daniel Wainwright) to two consecutive life sentences. After his sentencing, Annabelle is hopeful for what's to come with her life after finally being able to move forward from this experience.

3. Discussion
I truly enjoyed this story and the author had me hooked from the beginning when there were hints of a certain tragedy that happened but it wasn’t fully discussed till towards the ending of the story. Every time Caletti threw these hints, I kept telling myself, “Oh my goodness! What happened to Annabelle?!” At first I honestly thought the tragedy was going to be about rape, but then when the topic of guns and the tragedy was being related to school shootings, I was certain the tragedy the author was talking about was going to be a school shooting. In the end, I was wrong but I was still brought to tears as I could not imagine losing my loved ones by being shot to death.

Even though this story may be fictional, I believe this would be a great read for high school students, specifically female students, as they may be able to relate to this story. Even though I don’t have any personal experiences, in high school I remember always hearing stories from other females about dealing with a male stalker or dealing with a boy who would not leave them alone. I think this would be a good book for high school students to read as boys can learn that this is not acceptable behavior, and girls may learn from Annabelle, and have the courage to seek help before any tragedy may happen.

4. Connections
This story not only discusses anxiety and sorrow, but also gun violence and male vs. female privileges. Gun violence is always a topic that may be difficult to discuss in a classroom setting, but Caletti writes about this topic in a way that would help bring awareness to the readers.

Caletti also discusses male vs. female privileges throughout the book and is expressed more when Annabelle gives her speech and mentions how the country does not protect the lives of females. Teachers can hold open discussions about this topic and have students discuss how they feel about this statement.