Other editions of book The Rifle

A treasured antique rifle gets into the wrong hands in this YA novel by the Newbury Award-winning author: “a truly mesmerizing tale, from beginning to end” (Publishers Weekly). In 1768, gunsmith Cornish McManus painstakingly crafted his masterpiece: a rifle of extraordinary beauty and accuracy. Though he knows he will never be able to replicate it, Cornish is forced to sell it to a man named John Byam, who carried it with pride into the Revolutionary War. Passed down through generations, the beloved rifle ends up decorating the mantle of a modern-day mechanic and father named Harv. But what happens then is shocking, terrifying, and completely devastating. Reader’s guide included

In 1768, a gunsmith named Cornish McManus built a rifle of such accuracy that he know he could never create another like it. He intended to treasure his masterpiece, but with a new wife to provide for, he felt pressed to sell it. Soon the rifle was helping one John Byam become a legendary sharpshooter in the American Revolution. But when Byam succumbed to dysentery, the weapon was passed on to yet another owner...and then to another and another, until the present day.Strangely, in all the time of the rifle after John Byam's death and through all the people who looked at it and held it to their shoulder, not once in the life of the rifle did anybody ever think to see if it was loaded.The rifle was loaded.

This tough, thought-provoking novel for young adults takes deadly aim at the oft-quoted notion: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” With subtle mastery and precision, Paulsen’s novel challenges the idea that firearms don’t become instruments of destruction and murder until they are placed in human hands--The Rifle makes it clear that guns do kill people. “For readers willing to think about this issue, for those looking for ways to introduce the debate, there is no better vehicle than this short, engagingly written story of one rifle and its fatal impact on one modern boy.”--School Library Journal

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. It began in 1768, when gunsmith Cornish Mcmanus painstakingly created his masterpiece, a rifle of extraordinary beauty and accuracy, a weapon so perfect he knew he would never be able to replicate it. Although enarmored of the rifle, Cornish is forced to sell it to rebellious John Byam, who also treasures the ""sweet"" rifle. John carries it with pride into battle against the redcoats during the Revolutinary War. The beloved rifle is passed down through generations, until it ends up decorating the mantel of a modern-day mechanic named Harv. What happens then is shockibg, terrifying, and completely devastating.