Hate List (2009) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

show spoilers

Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

show spoilers

• Nicholas Anthony: Valerie's boyfriend who brings a gun and begins shooting in the cafeteria of Garvin High School. He commits suicide killing five students and wounding many others. He loved Shakespeare.
• Valerie Leftman: Protagonist and narrator of the book. Valerie is trying to figure out who she is after her boyfriend, Nick Levil, was the cause of a school shooting. She played a key role in which people Nick went after. Valerie spends much of the book trying to figure out what her feelings are about what Nick has done and what her role is in this mess.
• Jessica Campbell: A victim of the shooting, saved by Valerie. She was on the Hate List many times. Jessica made fun of Valerie, picked on her all the time, and was just plain mean to her before the shooting. While the shooting was taking place, Valerie stopped Nick from shooting Jessica and ever since then, Jessica has been nothing but nice and wants her to be her friend.
• Dr. Hieler: Valerie's psychiatrist who Valerie feels comfortable with. He gives her good advice and helps Valerie to "get better." Valerie opens up to him and is not afraid to tell him anything.
• Meghan Norris: One of Jessica's friends. She was on the Hate List.
• Ginny Baker: A girl at Valerie's school who was shot in the face and has had to get plastic surgery.
• Frankie: Valerie's fourteen-year-old little brother who's "a good kid, not like me," according to Valerie
• Adriana Tate: Garvin High's counselor
• Christy Bruter: Valerie's "one person" when the two of them were kids. She was on the Hate List and the first person Nick shot. She lived through the shooting but was unable to play softball at college like she had planned.
• Stacey Brinks: Valerie's best friend from when they were kids
• Briley: Valerie's father's secretary
• Morris Kline: A teacher killed in the shooting because he refused to give the location of another teacher
• Jack Angerson: Principal of Garvin High who does not like Valerie.
• Angela Dash: Reporter who writes articles about the school shooting and how much everything has improved since May 2nd, even though it hasn't improved at all.
• Detective Panzella: A detective who questions Valerie and the other students who were suspects of the shooting. He visits her while she is recovering from the shooting in the hospital. Panzella wants to clear Valerie's name so he tries as hard as he can to get as much information out of her as possible while she is stil recovering from the inncodent. Without Panzella, Valerie would've beor killing people her boyfriend killed.
• Bea: The owner of an art studio who loves purple and paints with Valerie
• Valerie Leftman: Valerie was dating Nick,who shot up their school, killing many students and a few teachers, she was shot and wounded by her own boyfriend. She was traumitized by the inncident and had nightmares every night about the situation.
• Mrs. Tennille: A teacher on Valerie and Nick's "Hate List"
• Nick(boyfriend of Valerie): Nick shot up the school and killed many students and a few teachers. He turned the gun on Valerie and then shot and killed himself.
• Troy: Meghan's older brother who graduated from Garvin High.
• Ted: Add a description of this character.
• Mrs. Stone
• Chris Summers: A boy at Valerie's school on the Hate List because he made Nick's life miserable. He took ever oppurtunity he could to hurt Nick in some way.
• Cheri Mansley
• Carmen Chiarro
• Mel
• Willa
• Katie Renfro
• Mason Markum
• Sarah
• Bill Dentley
• Jeremy Watson: A new found friend of Nick before the shooting occured. He spent most of his time hurting his girlfriend, smoking, or watching cartoons unless he was hanging out with Nick.
• Damon Jeffrey: The brother of Jeffrey, one of the victims in the school shooting who was born on May 2nd (the day of the shooting). His parents named him Damon Jeffrey because it was the name Jeffrey recommended before running off to school that day.
• Sean McDannon
• Jane Keller
• Jenny Leftman: Valerie's mother who tries to help Valerie get better.
• Abby Dempsey: A victim in the school shooting; Jessica's best friend.
• Max Hills
• Jeff Hicks: A boy who died in the shooting but wasn't on the Hate List
• Amanda Kinney
• Mrs. Flores
• Duce Barnes: Duce was a friend of Valerie's and Nick's before the shooting. While Valerie returns to school, she is still a little shook up and is very scared. Duce some what welcomes her back but completely ignores her while at lunch with his other friends.
• Bridget
• Tina
• Lin Yong: A victim in the school shooting; Lin survived, but she was hit in the upper right arm and is no longer to play her violin.
• Mike
• Alex Gold
• David
• Josh
• Bryn Mallom
• Grayson
• Shani
• Kendra
• Tammy
• Mr. Floodsay
• Zoe
• Mrs. Reading
• Brock
• Rex Hieler
• Anna Ellerton
• McKenzie Smith

Quotes edit see section history

• “I curled up around my pillow and stared at the horses printed on my wallpaper. Ever since I was a little kid, every time I got into trouble, I'd lie on my bed and stare at those horses and imagine myself hopping on one of them and riding away. Just riding, riding, riding, my hair swimming out behind me, my horse never getting tired or hungry, never finding another soul on earth. Just open possibility ahead of me into eternity.”

  Valerie

• “It was kind of weird because eventually they were all so busy hating each other, they forgot about hating me.”

  valerie

• “"It's okay for someone to let you win sometimes, you know." he said, getting all serious. "We don't always have to be the losers, Valerie. They may want to make us feel that way, but we're not. Sometimes we get to win, too."”

  Nick

• “It seemed like way too much work, cleaning up my grief”

  valerie

• “I think I had this feeling that just writing down their names in the book would prove that they were assholes and that I was the victim.”

  Valerie

• “That's just it, I don't know what to expect of me! Because everything I expected about everything has all gone to shit.”

  Valerie

• “I wanted to know what kind of spill would look so glorious, so shiny. Spills are usually ugly and messy, not beautiful”

  Valerie

• “Oh, do sit! The stool doesn't like it when its invitations go unnoticed.”

  Bea

• “"One's my favorite number," Bea giggled. "The word WON being the past tense of WIN, and we can all say at the end of the day that we've won once again, can't we? Some days making it to the end of the day is quite the victory."”

  Bea

• “Don't seniors deserve recess?”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “Life isn’t fair. A fair’s a place where you eat corn dogs and ride the Ferris wheel.”

  Highlighted by 233 Kindle customers

• “Just like there’s always time for pain, there’s always time for healing.

  Highlighted by 178 Kindle customers

• Because not having a clue who you are hurts way too much. And one thing I did know for sure: I was tired of hurting.

  Highlighted by 155 Kindle customers

• We all got to be winners sometimes. But what he didn’t understand was that we all had to be losers, too. Because you can’t have one without the other.

  Highlighted by 134 Kindle customers

• “One’s my favorite number,” Bea giggled. “The word won being the past tense of win, and we can all say at the end of the day that we’ve won once again, can’t we? Some days making it to the end of the day is quite the victory.”

  Highlighted by 127 Kindle customers

• “It’s like, you know, even if the whole world hates you, you still have someone to rely on. Just the two of you against the whole world. Just us.”

  Highlighted by 127 Kindle customers

• I knew what she was thinking: Being pretty isn’t everything, but sometimes being ugly is.

  Highlighted by 116 Kindle customers

• You may not have pulled the trigger, but you helped cause the tragedy.”

  Highlighted by 108 Kindle customers

• Beneath the struggle there would always be that basic love, that safe place to come home to.

  Highlighted by 90 Kindle customers

• “Too much purple?” She turned and studied it some more. “Never too much purple,” she muttered. “The world needs more purple.

  Highlighted by 64 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Panzella
• Béa
• Lin Yong
• Blue Lake

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

show spoilers

• bullying: Describe this theme.
• Parenting
• Forgiveness
• The train
• The horses: They seem to represent innocence and are a comfort to Val as she grows up and throughout the novel, imagining running away on one of the horses on her wallpaper, when Life was too much for her to handle.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jennifer Brown (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• South Carolina Young Adult Book Award (Finalist, 2011-2012)
• Sakura Medal (Finalist, 2012)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PZ7.B814224 Hat 2009
• Dewey: Add the Dewey Classification.

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Teens › Social Issues › Violence

More Books Like This edit see section history