Quinones, John. One Year in Uvalde: A Story of Hope and Resilience. Hyperion Avenue, 05/2024. 220p. $29.99. 978-1-368-10701-3.
Librarians, especially those in schools, may be interested in this book for adults. Quinones is a well-known ABC television reporter, who also happens to be a native Texan who grew up as a Spanish-speaking kid not far from Uvalde. This book describes the media coverage of the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas, where 21 people were killed – most of them 4th graders, on May 24, 2022.
Parts of the book focus on how the ABC national news team created an unusual crew to stay in Uvalde for an entire year, to delve deeply into how this tragedy occurred, and how it affected this small town. Some readers may be more interested in the other parts of the book that focus on the shooting, and how it could have been prevented. Some of the details are unbelievable. For example, almost 400 law enforcement officers were on the scene, including U.S. Border Patrol, yet the shooter was locked in the classroom for 77 minutes.
The evidence of what occurred is summarized, but it is clear there was a lack of leadership on behalf of the school district’s chief of police who wrote the policy on school shootings, naming himself as the person responsible for leading any actions. Yet, he did not take command and there was no coordination with the other law enforcement agencies on scene. It goes on to explain two key failures: the police inside the school could not obtain the keys to the two classrooms where the shooter was, nor could agencies communicate with each other due to lack of walkie-talkies being used (even though they had been provided).
Those who work in schools or other public buildings will find this type of information helpful when preparing or examining their own active shooter policies and procedures. Also, the book describes ways of dealing with families and the media that can help, and ways that really hurt the community. For example, how the governor of Texas and his staff passed along gossip, at first blaming a teacher, which turned out to be false.
The book is fairly brief, and does not exploit the families involved like some media has been prone to do after school shootings. There is very little on the shooter and much more on the families effected and how they are coping in the aftermath. Hopefully, reporting like this can contribute to more legislation on gun safety and school security funding.
Penny Peck, San Jose State University iSchool
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