1. A strong choice for summer reading—an engaging and powerful autobiographical exploration of growing up a so-called 'bad boy' in Harlem in the 1940s. As a boy, Myers was quick-tempered and physically strong, always ready for a fight.
2. Author Walter Dean Myers meets some of his young fans in a classroom at a juvenile detention center in the South Bronx. Though the audience members walk in wearing prison jumpsuits and sit slumped.

1. Bad Boy Walter Dean Myers Characters
2. Bad Boy Walter Dean Myers Summary
3. Bad Boy Walter Dean Myers Audio

Walter Milton Meyers is brought to Harlem. The first chapter of Bad Boy covers information that Walter Dean Myers obtained through family stories, census records, old photographs, and other.

Monster, published April 21, 1999 by HarperCollins, is a young adultdramanovel by American author Walter Dean Myers. Cosmed usb devices driver. It was nominated for the 1999 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2000,^[1] and was named a Coretta Scott King Award Honor the same year.

The book uses a mixture of a third-personscreenplay and a first-person diary format to tell the story, through the perspective of Steve Harmon, an African American teenager.

Plot[edit]

The novel begins with 16-year-old Steve Harmon writing in his diary awaiting for his trial for murder. Musing on his short time in prison so far, he decides to record this upcoming experience in the form of a movie screenplay. Kathy O'Brien, Steve's lawyer, informs him on what will happen during the trial. At this stage, only two of the four accused – James King and Steve – will be tried, since the other two accused – Richard 'Bobo' Evans and Osvaldo Cruz – have entered into a plea bargain. When the trial first begins, Steve flashes back to a movie he saw in his school's film club and the discussion he had with his teacher in which they discuss the idea of predictability.

The trial begins with the opening statements of the prosecutor Sandra Petrocelli, Miss O'Brien, and King's lawyer, Asa Briggs. Petrocelli labels the four accused men, including Steve, as 'monsters.' The lawyers call on several witnesses, including Salvatore Zinzi and Wendell Bolden, illicit cigarette traders, who admit to buying cigarettes that came from a drugstore robbery that led to the murder. The story of the trial is often broken up by a variety of flashbacks, including ones showing that King is only acquainted with Steve, that King had accused Steve of pulling the trigger during the robbery. Petrocelli calls as a witness Osvaldo Cruz, who is affiliated with the Diablos, a violent street gang. Cruz admits to participating in the crime only due to coercion by Bobo.

Steve recounts a visit from his father, who wishes Steve would have gone on to attend his alma mater, Morehouse College. After recounting various news reports covering the robbery and murder, Steve documents his arrest and his mother's panicked reaction. Before returning to the trial, Steve writes in his notes that he cannot psychologically handle writing down the tragic details of the robbery itself. The coroner, the city clerk, and a detective are questioned in a four-way split screen montage. Miss O'Brien warns Steve not to write down in his notebook anything he wants the prosecutor to see.

According to Cruz, the original plan was that Steve would go into the drugstore and signal if the coast was clear. After King and Bobo robbed the store owner, Mr. Nesbitt, Cruz would slow down any potential pursuers. Bobo takes the witness stand to say that James King pulled the trigger and vaguely recalls that Steve, whom he hardly knows, was meant to give an all-clear signal.

Briggs argues that neither King nor Steve was ever involved in the crime since the only eyewitness to the robbery saw only two men involved, which can be accounted for by Bobo and Cruz alone. Though Miss O'Brien seems doubtful of Steve's innocence, she wisely has him distance himself from King. Steve appears to know King and Cruz only as remote acquaintances, and Bobo hardly at all. Steve testifies that he does not particularly remember where he was on the day of the robbery, but that he certainly was not a participant. The defense systematically casts the honesty of Petrocelli's witnesses in doubt. Although many of the testimonies contradict, even the most incriminating toward Steve claims only that he acted as a lookout in the first stage of the robbery.

George Sawicki, Steve's film club mentor, serves as a character witness, proudly defending Steve's moral character. Briggs, Miss O'Brien, and Petrocelli finally make their closing statements, before the jury decides on a verdict. James King is found guilty, while Steve is found not guilty. As Steve moves to hug O'Brien, she turns away, leaving Steve to question why. The end of the novel takes place five months after Steve has been cleared of all charges and released from prison. Steve has continued his film-making, but his father has moved away, creating a noticeable distance between the two. He is still confused as to Miss O'Brien's demeanor at the end of the trial, wondering whether she saw some real Steve or a 'monster.'

Themes and format[edit]

The novel depicts the themes of identity, race, peer pressure, dehumanization, crime, teenaged masculinity, and the relative or subjective nature of the truth. This idea comes up multiple times throughout the novel. There is the truth in relation to the law, but also the truth of a person's character. Steve, during the trial, writes about experiences he has had that directly contradict the thug persona he has been labeled with. The book reads like a formal screenplay, written by Steve Harmon, interspersed with seemingly handwritten fragments from his diary. The screenplay's verisimilitude is enhanced by such cues as 'fade in,' 'voice over,' and “fade out.' As one critic wrote, the novel is 'Presented alternately as the first‑person, handwritten memoir.. [and] a neatly typed screenplay.'^[2] Critics have commented on how the novel offers 'surface effects – marginalia, drawing, photographs, mugshots, and video stills – to offer an analysis of the complex identities that emerge in the context of such surfaces.' Generally, the novel has been praised for remarkably sophisticated levels of thematic and formal complexity, considering its ostensible status as a young adult novel. As another critic wrote, 'Monster is an experiment in form and structure,' demonstrating Steve's 'vent[ing of] his passionate perplexity.'^[3]

The novel is interspersed with various photos depicting Steve. Many appear to be placed around the prison, possibly taken after he has been released as he is dressed in plain clothes although his oversized T-shirt is striped. Possibly indicating that he will never be free from this experience. Myers had an affinity for addressing issues of race in many of his other novels as well as several articles he penned.^[4]

Autobiographical elements[edit]

As a young man, Myers struggled with a speech impediment that caused many of his classmates and teachers to ridicule him and think him unintelligent.^[5] He often got into trouble at school for selling drugs in school and on the streets. When trying to defend himself against the ridicule, many labeled him a “Monster' much like how Steve Harmon was labeled a 'Monster.'^[6] Later, while working as a construction worker, Myers decided to follow advice given to him by his high school writing teacher and began writing at night after work, just as the character Steve Harmon writes throughout the novel.

Download ageia mobile phones & portable devices driver. Myers' novel is also one of very few young adult novels that features a protagonist of color.^[7]

The cover artist for the novel is Myers' son, Christopher Myers.

Reception[edit]

Monster received the following accolades:

• 1999, National Book Award for Young People's Literature finalist^[8][9]
• 1999, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award nominee for Fiction^[9]
• 2000, American Library Association (ALA), Best Books for Young Adults^[10]
• 2000, Michael L. Printz Award^[8][9][11]
• 2000, Coretta Scott King Award for Authors nominee^[9][8]
• 2001, ALA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults^[12]
• 2001, Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee^[9]
• 2005, Lincoln Award nominee^[9]
• Edgar Award for Best Young Adult nominee^[8]

Film adaptation[edit]

Monster has been adapted into a film of the same name directed by Anthony Mandler. It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.^[13] It stars an ensemble cast that includes Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Hudson, Nas and A$AP Rocky. It is scheduled to be released by Netflix on May 7, 2021.

References[edit]

1. ^'2000 Printz Award'. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
2. ^Staunton, John A; Gubuan, Francine (May 1997). 'Monster'. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 45. 45 (8): 791–793. JSTOR40012833.
3. ^Cart, Michael (2000). Carte Blanche: The Dream Becomes a Reality. Booklist. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
4. ^Bosman, Julie (2012). 'Children's Book Envoy Defines His Mission'. New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
5. ^Italie, Hillel (4 March 2011). 'At 73, Jersey City author Walter Dean Myers is a hero to young readers'. NJ.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
6. ^Myers, Walter Dean. Bad Boy: a Memoir. New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins, 2001. Print
7. ^Myers, Walter Dean (2014). 'Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books?'. New York Times. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
8. ^ ^abcdMyers, Walter Dean (2001-05-08). Monster. HarperCollins. ISBN978-0-06-440731-1.
9. ^ ^abcdef'Monster'. Goodreads. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
10. ^American Library Association (2006-09-29). '2000 Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults'. Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Retrieved 2021-03-08.
11. ^'Monster | Awards & Grants'. American Library Association. 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
12. ^'Monster | Awards & Grants'. American Library Association. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
13. ^Debruge, Peter (November 29, 2017). 'Sundance Film Festival Unveils Full 2018 Features Lineup'. Variety. Retrieved January 1, 2018.

External links[edit]

Growing Up African American

Sejda pdf desktop. For a long time, Myers viewed being black as something that prevented him from having certain opportunities or experiences, and he also believed that the color of his skin was the reason for his inability to write for a living. Although he was intelligent, well-read and ultimately thrived in his elementary school, where he was one of the higher-flying students, his life became more of a social stereotype after his early entry into high school. He did not experience racism from either his fellow students or from his teachers, but he felt that he experienced racism from life in general; because his father had not received a good education, he did not have a particularly high-paying job. White collar jobs were not available to him and by the time Myers was in high school the family was seriously struggling financially. There was no money or opportunity for Myers to go to college. He began to drop out, and get involved in petty crime, even befriending a murderer and realizing that he would need to get out of town pretty soon for his own safety and wellbeing. This is why he joined the military.

Bad Boy Walter Dean Myers Characters

On returning from his tour of duty, Myers fell into one dead-end blue collar job after another and was never really happy. He missed writing, he missed education, and he wanted to try to find a way to have them both. This is when the central irony of his life occurred; in his youth he had considered his race to be the barrier to writing for a living, but now, in drawing on his experiences as a young man, he was able to make his race the thing that enabled him to become a full-time writer.

Adoption

Although Myers does not write at length about his adoption, it is something that comes up as a theme throughout the book and even acted as the central theme of an entire series of books for younger readers that Myers penned later. Myers himself was adopted; he was born to a black mother and father, but adopted by his father's first wife, a German-Native American woman, and her second husband, who was a black man. Myers absolutely adored his parents and was close with them. Throughout the book it is emphasized that his rebellion was never against them but against the inequities he found in his life or his inability to process his feelings. Even when he is succeeding intellectually, and surrounding himself with people of similar intellectual interests, and his relationship with his parents becomes more distant in that they do not really understand each other, the love between them never diminishes. Myers remembers that they gave him a 'marvelous' childhood and his goal has always been to make them proud of him.

Bad Boy Walter Dean Myers Summary

Bullying

It's an old, familiar story; child is bullied in school, child puts up with it, child receives no support from teachers or other kids, child finally fights back - and the bullied child is all at once the 'bad kid' whose behavior is a risk and whose rebellion is simply intolerable. This is what happened to elementary school age Myers; because of his speech impediment, he was bullied very badly by his classmates and because he was not able to respond or stick up for himself verbally, he used his fists, promptly getting caught and disciplined, as well as being immediately cast in the role of the instigator. This experience that Myers relates is an experience common to all bullied children and it is also interesting to note that he was blessed with teachers who did not always judge on face value, and who were willing to see more to a child who had been largely dismissed as a troublemaker.

The Gift of a Good Teacher

Bad Boy Walter Dean Myers Audio

After defending himself from bullies, Myers was considered a problem child, but thanks to some of his teachers, who felt that there was more to him than this behavior, his entire life changed and he went from bottom of the class to the top because they chose to think outside of the box in their dealings with him. Myers was given speech therapy, which enabled him to express himself better and avoid the frustration of feeling unable to say what he wanted to. It also minimized the bullying he experienced because it gave him more confidence, and bullies do not tend to bully their more confident classmates. Academically, they realized that he was passionate about books and linguistics and encouraged him, which ultimately allowed him to take accelerated learning classes and graduate early. The theme of the gift of a good teacher is evident in that much of what he was able to accomplish in later life can be traced all the way back to Myers' experiences with his caring and innovative elementary school teachers.