Nineteen Minutes

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

How do you define bullying? What does it mean to be a victim of bullying? Can someone who bullies, or carries out acts of violence, also be a victim? What about in cases of violent crime carried out in self-defense? What about in other cases of violent crime, like a school shooting?

Teaching Suggestion: Nineteen Minutes details the events and experiences that lead to a high school shooting and explores the aftermath of the event. Picoult’s work typically presents multiple perspectives without offering judgment; in this book, one sees the feelings and experiences of survivors, bystanders, relatives, the shooter, and others. It may be helpful to have students think about what bullying and victimhood mean. You could help students think about the cyclical nature of bullying and discuss how someone who has experienced bullying might later bully others. Consider using the listed resources as a starting point for the discussion about school shootings. The conversation also ties into two of the book’s themes: Bullying and Appearance Versus Reality.

• This poem, penned by a teenager, ponders what may have led someone to become a shooter.
• This article from the EBP Society discusses a study conducted on the relationship between bullying and school violence.

Short Activity

• Working in small groups, conduct some research on “battered person syndrome” and answer the following questions:
• What does the term mean?
• What causes it?
• What signs and symptoms suggest someone is experiencing this condition?
• What is its relationship to post-traumatic stress disorder?
• What kind of help and support would benefit someone going through this?

Present your findings, along with any case studies or scientific articles you collect, to the rest of the class.

Teaching Suggestion: During the trial that follows the school shooting, Peter Houghton’s lawyer presents “battered person syndrome” as a defense for Peter’s actions. Although usually seen in intimate relationships, the signs and behaviors of someone with “battered person syndrome” are seen in Peter, suggesting that the incessant bullying throughout his school years triggered this form of PTSD. Having students discover details about the condition themselves may help them make sense of the related discussions in the text.

Differentiation Suggestion: Advanced learners can be asked to research and think about an additional question: Can similar patterns of abuse and resulting trauma exist in relationships besides romantic or intimate ones?

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Have you ever been in a situation where you did not seem to “fit in”? How did it feel? What did you do to cope? Did you try to change your behavior, talk to people, withhold your emotions, or something else altogether?

Teaching Suggestion: One of the central themes of the book is Fitting In, and arguably several of the book’s events take place because characters feel unable to “fit in” with their peers. Having students think about their own experiences and how they reacted to uncomfortable situations may help incite empathy and understanding for the different characters’ actions. To extend the conversation, you might ask students whether their chosen coping methods worked and what, retrospectively, may have been most helpful for them in that situation.