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Killing Mr. Griffin

by Lois Duncan

Paper Book, 1990

Barcode

140

Genres

Publication

Laurel Leaf (1990), 224 pages

Description

A teenager casually suggests playing a cruel trick on the English teacher, but did he intend it to end with murder?

User reviews

LibraryThing member Carol420

[Killing Mr. Griffin] by Lois Duncan
★★★★1/2

From The Book:
They only meant to scare him.

Mr. Griffin is the strictest teacher at Del Norte High, with a penchant for endless projects and humiliating his students. Even straight-A student Susan can't believe how mean he is to the charismatic Mark

Kinney. So when her crush asks Susan to help a group of students teach a lesson of their own, she goes along. After all, it's a harmless prank, right? But things don't go according to plan. When one "accident" leads to another, people begin to die. Susan and her friends must face the awful truth: one of them is a killer.

My Views:
If you have a few hours on your hands or just want to read something that doesn't weigh 500 pounds or is composed of 700 pages...this little jewel is your new best friend. In spite of someone thinking that it should be banned...it was one of the best books I've read this year. I guess I can see the reason for "banning" it but believe me teens read much worse than this every day.

We have all had a teacher like Mr. Griffin. A teacher that demanded that we actually work to get the grade. Most of us though don't respond by kidnapping said teacher and inadvertently killing them. The students are just too young or too immature to see things from Mr. Griffin's side...they just know that English is no longer the breeze it was last year. So a group of students decide to try and change things but the plan was a disaster waiting to happen from the start. one of the perpetrators was charismatic but with sociopathic tendencies...one was the class president and never thought he's be suspected.... one was a star athlete that everyone liked and admired... and then there was the "Queen Bee"...the one that gets voted home coming Queen just because she breathes. They needed a decoy so they enlist the class geek Susan because she just wants to be liked. Unfortunately for them this complicates things because she out of the entire group has a conscience. Things fall apart soon due to both poor planning and sheer bad luck.

Unlike some teen books, this one attempts to give the various adults' viewpoints as well as the students. It raises some questions about nature or nurture, but can be read simply for entertainment.

LibraryThing member kathy_chiff

Another Lois Duncan book .... love them. What better way to spend you weekend. Although not as good as 'stranger with my face' which was the first Lois Duncan book i ever read.
This great but VERY chilling book is one of thos thhat you sometimes feel like you want to scream at the book saying things

like 'don't do it' and 'noooooooooooo'.
This book is also emotional, scary and the stuff of nightmares -for teachers-
The best thing about this book is the realsitic way it's told but the worst thing about it is how unrealistic the storyline is
I mean who kidnaps a teacher!!! That never happens. I get that it was an accident and all but no body does that.
IMPORTANT - Don't read this and think 'a group of kids kidnap their teacher, it sounds a bit babyish' IT'S NOT!
This book - i think - is aimed at anyone over 10 at least. I doubt that you could grow out of it.

LibraryThing member SomeGuyInVirginia

**Spoilers ahead**

Don’t, nothing you can say will make me feel worse than I already do for having read it. It’s a YA book, but bad in an after-school-special kind of way. There are some really interesting elements, I wish Ms. Duncan had the guts to follow through and detail the consequences of

the student’s actions. As it stands, the book end abruptly with a speech by Mom that runs something like- ‘It’s been 10 days since you killed your English teacher and you’re still moping over it- it’s time to get out of bed and get on with life! You were the victim of a psychopath and your father and I are going to stand by you through the trial, and with counseling we’re all going to be a happier, healthier family.’

I know, right? Puke. It’s enough to make me cheer for the loonies in Natural Born Killers.

LibraryThing member adunnehoo

Duncan, Lois. Killing Mr. Griffin. 1978. Laurel-Leaf: New York.
Genre: Suspense
Themes: Kidnapping, high school, death, and peer pressure
Age / Grade Appropriateness: High school, 14 and up.
Awards: Don't Look Behind You New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, ALA
Best of the Best Book for Young

Adults. 1985 Nominee Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Award, NY Times Best Book for Children, Readers Awards: Massachusetts, Alabama
Censorship Issues: This novel has been challenged because of inappropriate language and because of the students going against their teacher in such a violent and disrespectful way.
Plot Summary: Brian Griffin is a strict English teacher, who left teaching at the college level because he didn’t feel like students were learning enough in high school. He is very rigid and has set extremely high expectations for his students that most have no hope of ever reaching. Mark Kinney is a senior that Mr. Griffin has forced to retake his class because he cheated on a term paper. He is very resentful and convinces three other seniors to help him kidnap Mr. Griffin to “teach him a lesson”. They think they can scare him into treating his students better. Mark uses Susan McConnell’s crush on the senior class president, David Ruggles to his advantage and convinces her to help them by being a decoy. She is the best student in the class even though she is only a junior and Mr. Griffin thinks she has the potential to be a better writer than most, but doesn’t let her know. They kidnap Mr. Griffin and destroy his medication, not knowing this will prove to be fatal. Susan convinces David that they need to go and let Mr. Griffin go, but when they get back to where they hid him, he is dead. From this point on the situation quickly unravels and Mark stops at nothing to keep anyone from spilling their secret.
Critique: This novel is my least favorite of Lois Duncan’s books. It does come to light that Mark is a psychopath in the making, but the idea that otherwise normal teenagers would kidnap their teacher thinking they could scare him into treating his students better and not get caught is very far-fetched. Mark doesn’t come across as charismatic enough to convince the class president, a star athlete and a popular cheerleader to commit a crime with him. This novel was published in 1978 and it shows in the character descriptions and how they speak. Peer pressure is a problem that today’s teens encounter and is the driving force of this novel.
Curriculum Uses: This novel is widely used in classrooms. Students could discuss the consequences that come from making bad decisions, responsibility of leadership and how Mark and David, as the class president, abuse this position, or make character profiles of each of the students involved in the kidnapping plot.

LibraryThing member jhagiya

Five teenagers infuriated with the harsh demands of their English teacher, Mr. Griffin, devise a revengeful scheme to scare him. Things go awry, and these five youths find themselves faced with his murder. The characters are believable high school students, the plot moves quickly, leaving readers

hanging in suspense at every turn of the plot. This thrilling mystery story touches upon many relevant themes for young adults: acceptance, peer pressure, revenge, and responsibility. Further topics which can be incorporated into discussion can include: criminal justice and psychological behaviors.

LibraryThing member bplma

A group of high school seniors, afraid that the most unreasonable teacher in school, Mr. Griffin, will prevent them from graduating, plan to kidnap him in order to scare him and to send a message to him that he had better lighten up. They plot to enlist the help of Sue who agrees against her better

judgment to help because she has a crush on David. But nothing is as it appears to be and Mr. Griffin fights back hard; He warns Sue to run thinking she was being victimized too; Griffin has a heart condition and dies and the ringleader of the group, Mark, is a psychopath who will kill anyone who gets in his way. As things continue to go wrong the kids are sucked deeper and deeper in as they try to cover their tracks. I enjoyed the quick and easy read. It is a dark read, and I couldn’t help noticing that Sue would absolutely be looking at time if it were written today. The kidnapping scene and death were gruesome. For me, the most horrifying part was that only Sue seemed to have any compassion at all for Griffin or his wife. 09/06

LibraryThing member bibliophile26

A group of kids decide to kidnap and intimidate their teacher, but things turn ugly. Better written and less cheesy than R.L. Stine, but still fits the mold of teenybop horror novel.

LibraryThing member vescober

222/222

A group of high school students try to threaten their teacher, Mr. Griffin, by kidnapping him. They try to threaten him because they aren't doing well in his class and they think Mr. Griffin isn't going to let them graduate.

The main character is Susan McConnell. Susan is a shy junior taking

Mr. Griffin's Senior class. Susan gets into the plan of kidnapping Mr. Griffin.

I cant relate to some of the characters like Susan because she's shy. I can relate to the situation when they are given lots of homework.

I thought this book was really good. so there wasn't anything i didn't like.

I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in mystery books because this book is kind of like a mystery.

LibraryThing member delaney.h4

Summary: Mr. Griffin the meanest English teacher in the world. The guy can't even take a joke. Literally. When the sstudents decide it's time to give Mr. Griffin a scare, everything goes wrong. But they won't get caught right? As long as SOMEONE doesn't tell. They couldn't possibly be blamed. After

all they only meant to scare him.
Review: A really good book. The plot takes awhile to unfold, but after awhile you see who's fault it really is.

LibraryThing member vortega

Doing something crazy "just for the hell of it," is the reason that five high school students join together to plot the kidnapping of their English teacher, Mr. Griffin. The best laid plans are often thwarted and so in this spell binding thriller, nothing happens that is expected. The characters

are credible and readers can connect with the smart but insecure junior who is depressed, the senior class president who has his life under control, the cheerleader who enjoys excitement, the bad boy who has it all figured out and the jock who just follows orders. In rapid fire, the sequence of events unfold to reveal sinister motives, secret pasts, inner fears, and anti-social behaviors that lead to unimaginable consequences. A book to be read in one sitting!

LibraryThing member coriblake

Although definitely a thriller, I too found much of the evetns that took place in the novel to be quite comedic; not in a 'this is so funny' kind of way, but rather a 'warped sense of humor' kind of way. One obstacle and death after another. I was absolutely engaged in the storyline, wanting to

know how these seeimingly bright high school students were going to get away with murdering their high school english teacher. Both middle and high school students will enjoy reading about these particular students whose scare tactic plan turns into more than a nightmare. A great big thumbs up!

LibraryThing member MrsSClass

This book is a very interesting book about some high school students who hate thier english teacher. They only plan to scare thier teacher but the joke went a little to far. He is found dead what will happen to Griffin's family and what will happen to the students who only planned to scare thier

teacher. Even the best plans sometimes go wrong.

LibraryThing member Kaybowes

Mr. Griffin is very hard on all his students, criticizing and failing them in tests, etc. Some of them decide to get their revenge by kidnapping him and scaring him. They didn't count on him dying. They didn't know about his heart condition.

Jeff, Betsy, Dave and Sue really didn't want to hurt him,

But Mark had his own agenda. His hatred of the teacher stemmed from his failing the class and having to retake it -- actually begging to be able to come back.

Dave and Sue want to right the wrongs but get in deeper than ever, when Mark goes after Dave's grandmother and then Sue.

Great tale of suspense. Somewhat dated with a few words here and there -- "gay" (happy). Written in 1978.

LibraryThing member LindaLundeen

Mr. Griffin is a tough teacher and is not well liked by his high school students. After years of instructing college students, Mr. Griffin is compelled to teach high school and prepare students for adult life. One day a group of students decide to scare Mr. Griffin by kidnapping him. But the plan

takes a turn for the worst and the students must decide how to deal with the murder they all had a part in committing. Although the novel was written decades ago, the topics of peer pressure and disdain for teachers are still relevant. The novel's narrator is omniscient, providing insight into each character.

LibraryThing member ChristineOC

When a group of students decide to play a prank on their least favorite teacher, the joke turns to tragedy when he suddenly dies. Will they be able to continue living their lives as if nothing happened? Will their alibis and lies be able to cover the truth? Is revenge always sweet? Lois Duncan

again keeps us turning pages in this, still very popular novel, Killing Mr. Griffin.

Lois Duncan has again written a well received novel that keeps YA’s reading. This book contains the elements that teenagers love to read about in stories. The high school setting and dialogue of the characters make it believable. The different stereotypes portrayed in the book are true to life in every high school around the country. I was certainly curious to find out how the story ended and had a hard time putting the book down. This is another new favorite of mine.

LibraryThing member dlmann

A group of students plan to kidnap and frighten their high school English teacher. When their plan goes to scare him goes wrong and his death is untimely, the adventure begins.

LibraryThing member ewang109

Duncan, L. (1978). Killing Mr. Griffin. New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers.

Who would have thought that a scare would result in a death?

Mr. Griffin used to be an English professor at the University of Albuquerque. He then decides to become an English teacher at Del Norte

High School, because he witnesses too many students ill prepared for college. Although Mr. Griffin is passionate about teaching, he is a tough teacher. He does not accept late work; he grades hard; and he is extremely strict with his students.

Betsy, David, Sue, Jeff, and Mark are students in Mr. Griffin’s class. They are not used to earning Fs on their papers. Some of them are even endangered of not graduating high school, because they are failing his English course. However, they have a plan to make Mr. Griffin change: kidnap him, take him to the mountains, and teach him a lesson. Even though the kids meticulously plan all the details, the operation is a fiasco. To their surprise, Mr. Griffin dies! Consequently, the students embark on a massive cover-up.

At first the characters might seem like your typical characters: Betsy the popular cheerleader, David the senior class president, Sue the loner who likes David, Jeff the athlete, and Mark the ringleader. Yet the characters are believable because Duncan develops each character in several chapters. By doing this, readers understand the characters’ lives at home, their emotions, their insecurities, and their motivations for participating in this scheme. It is also interesting because Duncan includes chapters on Mr. Griffin. Readers see that he is not a stoic, cold-hearted teacher. In fact, he cares deeply about his students, but that he pushes them to strive for perfection.

The many unexpected twists in the plot make it exciting. Readers are left wondering what else can go wrong. Readers will be completely engrossed in the novel.

At the same time, the story is very disturbing. Mark the ringleader is a budding psychopath. The book describes how he has no emotion or reaction to people’s pain. He actually finds happiness in watching people suffer. These parts of the book made me feel uncomfortable.

Killing Mr. Griffin is often banned from school libraries, and I can see why. Duncan is an exceptional writer, and the story seems real. Nonetheless, by banning this book, teachers and parents miss the point. The book sends an important message to teenagers about the power of influence and peer pressure. I also do not think that banning this book will do much, since adolescents are exposed to more violent images through the media.

While the reading level could be appropriate for middle school students, given its violent and emotionally disturbing content, it is more suitable for high school students. I highly recommend this book for a high school library

LibraryThing member cuttoothom

Lois Duncan appeals to a great number of YA readers. He has a knack for laying the right amount of morbidity and intrigue against the right amount of high school anxiety and youth culture that keeps his stories interesting.
When several students kidnap a teacher and he somehow ends up dead, their

loyalties are tested and guilt takes its toll.
This is a stark tale about responsibility that I read in a classroom, and I would encourage in a classroom.

LibraryThing member JRlibrary

Read when I was a teenager! What does THAT tell you!

LibraryThing member Kathdavis54

Mr. Griffin is a strict teacher who never gives anyone any slack. What will happen when a group of students decides to scare him into being nicer and something goes wrong? Can they keep their terrible secret? Lois Duncan weaves a suspenseful story in this young adult thriller.

LibraryThing member ydestura

Synopsis
The story is about five high school students who plot to scare their English Teacher for being very strict in passing out failing grades. Brian Griffin, their teacher, is a high school Great Literature teacher; he is tough on students who fail to turn in their papers on time.
The group of

five students thinks it would be funny if they played a prank on Mr. Griffin and decide to get revenge by kidnapping him. They never wanted to kill him. But, it all goes wrong when Mr. Griffin dies of a heart attack while being tied down during the kidnapping prank.
Review
The book is about teenagers planning a prank, a smaller crime that spirals out of their control. The central characters are both male and females. The teenagers are: Mark Kinney, David Ruggles, a handsome senior and president of the high school’s senior class; Jeff, a basketball player and Betsy, the head cheerleader, and Susan McConnell, the smart junior student.
In the story, they all succumb to one character that is portrayed as a leader, and now they must take the consequences of their actions. The characters are realistic and interesting, and the difficult portrayal of Mr. Griffin is handled perfectly. The reader could easily believe he is a good man, undeserving of his fate.
Two of the major themes about this novel are peer pressure and the reactions of choice and equal consequence. Teenagers need to learn at an early age that they do have a choice. Everyone has choices in everything they do, and there are positive choices that yield positive consequences, and there are negative choices that yield negative consequences.
The underlying theme is to be careful with whom you put your trust in. This novel is very dark filled with suspense, mystery, and many unexpected twists. The plot and underlying subplots can get quite complicated. I personally would not recommend this book due to the community that I serve. Many of the students may actually get ideas and this book may further inspire them to “accidently commit murder.”
Awards: ALA Notable children’s Book

LibraryThing member dablackwood

Other than a couple of dated remarks, this chilling novel could have been written yesterday. This very scary book is about high school students who kidnap their despised English teacher to teach him a lesson. Unfortunately, Mr. Griffin has a heart condition and dies as a result of being tied up and

away from his medications. It is a horrible accident. The scary part involves the students' reactions and behavior following the death. Without giving the plot away, the bad things escalate to a horrific climax.
Many high schools read this novel to address peer pressure as well as psychopathic behavior. It definitely speaks to both of those issues and is a very important book. I'm not sure to whom I would recommend it.

LibraryThing member tealightful

I had read this book as a young teenager and I don't remember what I thought of it, I soaked up so many books then and at insanely rapid paces (without the convenience of a website to log things in, hehe). This time around, I read the "updated and revised" edition. Which, wasn't as good as the

original. The updates weren't necessary to make the story enhanced. They just seemed really unnecessary. (IE: adding in references to iPods, Google, cell phones, etc.) The plot is serious and I think it's decent for the age group it was intended for (not so riveting as an adult but I can appreciate the writing for the teen age it was meant for). I wish the story had wrapped up a little better and final with happened to the kiddos.

LibraryThing member Stormydawnc

I loved Lois Duncan in middle school-- I read every book my library had, emailed her, and in general was a bit of a fangirl. I found her books to appeal to my favorite kind of scary: spooky, suspenseful, and horrifying, but not gory. This one, however, never did it for me. I tried to read it

several times and I'm not sure I ever made it to the last page.

LibraryThing member lkmuir

A teenager casually suggests playing a cruel trick on the English teacher, but did he intend it to end with murder?

ISBN

0440945151 / 9780440945154

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