"The President Has Been Shot!": The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

by James L. Swanson Narrated by Will Patton

Overview

This YALSA-ALA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award Finalist is a breathtaking and dramatic account of JFK's assassination by NY Times bestselling author of CHASING LINCOLN'S KILLER.

In his award-winning young-adult book on the Kennedy assassination, James Swanson will transport readers back to one of the most shocking, sad, and terrifying events in American history. As he did in his bestselling Scholastic YA book, CHASING LINCOLN'S KILLER, Swanson deploys his signature "you are there" style -- a riveting, ticking-clock pace, with an unprecedented eye for dramatic details and impeccable historical accuracy. Here is the story of the JFK assassination as it has never been told before.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for "The President Has Been Shot!": The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

A YALSA-ALA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award Finalist

"Archival photographs, explicit diagrams of the assassination scene, source notes, and a bibliography that includes conspiracy-focused literature add further value to this strong addition to Kennedy titles." —Booklist

"Swanson brings the same immediacy and thrillerlike tension he achieved in Chasing Lincoln's Killer to this harrowing account of the Kennedy assassination."—Publishers Weekly

Praise for Chasing Lincoln's Killer

An ALA Best Books for Young Adults

BOOKLIST Notable Children's Book

Recommended as one of the top children's books about Lincoln by American History Magazine

* "The YA version of Swanson's bestselling MANHUNT this account of Lincoln's assassination and the twelve-day search for his killer reads like a historical thriller. . . . Abundant period photographs and documents enhance the book's immediacy."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

* "Divided into fourteen chapters and an epilogue, the sentences are shorter and chapters are condensed from the original but the rich details and suspense are ever present, . . . It is a tale of intrigue and an engrossing mystery. With the approaching bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, this is a most welcome addition to all libraries."—School Library Journal, starred review

Kirkus Reviews

2013-09-01
Readers coming cold to this book about the assassination of John F. Kennedy will learn a great deal about the crime but much less about the man who died. Swanson devotes a scant 20 pages to the issues that dominated Kennedy's presidency before describing "the Kennedy mystique." In his telling, John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy come through as very human figures (albeit ones without weaknesses), who cast a bright light on national, global and political landscapes. His telling is almost hagiographic. The assassination and its aftermath occupy the heart of the book, the writing often straining to pull at heartstrings. This is particularly evident when describing Jackie Kennedy's actions before and during the funeral. Of course she was bereft--but strong enough to plan the entire observance down to the eternal flame on the grave. As for Lee Harvey Oswald, Swanson asks many gratuitous questions about what made him kill before admitting that neither he nor others know. Why ask? In the epilogue, Swanson waxes purple, stating that "Oswald struck from the shadows. Then he robbed us of the rest of the story." Well, what about Jack Ruby? Although the narrative verges on mythmaking, the many, many photographs and diagrams give the volume some value. Readers wishing for a more restrained, neutral, journalistic treatment should stick with Wilborn Hampton's Kennedy Assassinated: The World Mourns (1997). (source notes, further reading, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171261788
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

Read an Excerpt

"The president was running late. The handshaking at Love Field, plus the two stops for the clever children and the admiring nuns, had put him at least five or ten minutes behind schedule. Oswald waited by the window. Whenever his eyes searched Houston Street for the first signs of the motorcade, he was careful to not hold the rifle high in his hands. Someone on the ground might see him and warn the authorities.Finally, the police motorcycles, their red lights flashing, and trailed by the lead car carrying the Dallas chief of police, reached the corner of Main and Houston and then turned right onto Houston. The Texas School Book Depository stood one block ahead. Oswald saw the motorcycles first. Then he saw the police chief's white car. Then he spotted what he had been waiting for—the big, gleaming, midnight-blue limousine carrying the president of the United States. And from the moment Oswald saw that car turn onto Houston Street, he knew with 100 percent certainty that one of its six occupants had to be John F. Kennedy. If Oswald fixed his gaze on the car, he must have noticed in the distance what appeared to be an unusually bright pinpoint of color toward the rear of the vehicle. It was Jacqueline Kennedy, her pink suit and pill box hat glowing like a signal beacon. And right next to her sat the president."

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