MONSTER
by Walter Dean Myers

1. Bibliography:
Myers, Walter Dean and Christopher Myers (Ill.). MONSTER. 1999. New York. HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 0060280778.

Walter Dean Myers began writing as a child and has been publishing since 1969. He has received many awards for his fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in young adult literature. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, is married, and has 3 grown children.
http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/bio.html

Christopher Myers is the son of acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers. He is an award-winning illustrator who credits his appreciation of the importance of images to observing the objects and photographs his parents would bring home from auctions and flea markets.
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=3258

2. Plot Summary
Amazon.com
"Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve really the lookout who gave the "all clear" to the murderer, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? In this innovative novel by Walter Dean Myers, the reader becomes both juror and witness during the trial of Steve's life. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker Steve chronicles the proceedings in movie script format. Interspersed throughout his screenplay are journal writings that provide insight into Steve's life before the murder and his feelings about being held in prison during the trial. "They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can't kill yourself no matter how bad it is. I guess making you live is part of the punishment."
Myers, known for the inner-city classic Motown and Didi (first published in 1984), proves with Monster that he has kept up with both the struggles and the lingo of today's teens. Steve is an adolescent caught up in the violent circumstances of an adult world--a situation most teens can relate to on some level. Readers will no doubt be attracted to the novel's handwriting-style typeface, emphasis on dialogue, and fast-paced courtroom action. By weaving together Steve's journal entries and his script, Myers has given the first-person voice a new twist and added yet another worthy volume to his already admirable body of work. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

3. Critical Analysis
The book received the Richard Printz Award and the Coretta Scott King Award. It is contemporary realistic fiction that is realistically depicted as a movie screenplay that zooms in and out on the court room scene as well as the scenes taking place in the prison and community. This book is wonderfully written and keeps the reader engaged in the suspense of the story. The author writes from the point of view of Steve Harmon the 16 year old teen accomplice to a robbery and murder crime scene. This book reveals the emotions and fears of prison life and losing one’s freedom. The text is easy to read and well written for the teen to adult. Inside the front cover, the following is written to engage the reader in the story: “sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. Monster” The story ends with Steve’s innocence and the text then rolls up the page as
A STEVE HARMON FILM. Five months later, Steve writes of his experience, his family and in his mind, wonders “when Miss O’Brien looked at me, after we had won the case, what did she see that caused her to turn away? What did she see?” This statement allows the reader to form their own opinion of Steve…was he a monster or not??

The illustrations are black and white photographs that are realistic to a crime scene and prison life. These illustrations are wonderfully created to support the storyline and text to create a realistic account of the crime.


4. Review Excerpts

Monster
"Chilling and engrossing"
-The New York Times Book Review
"The sheer authenticity of the novel and its presentation are disquieting - and totally riveting"

-Boston Globe -Horn Book
"A riveting courtroom drama that will leave a powerful, haunting impression on young minds."
-Publishers Weekly

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-Steve Harmon, 16, is accused of serving as a lookout for a robbery of a Harlem drugstore. The owner was shot and killed, and now Steve is in prison awaiting trial for murder. From there, he tells about his case and his incarceration. Many elements of this story are familiar, but Myers keeps it fresh and alive by telling it from an unusual perspective. Steve, an amateur filmmaker, recounts his experiences in the form of a movie screenplay. His striking scene-by-scene narrative of how his life has dramatically changed is riveting. Interspersed within the script are diary entries in which the teen vividly describes the nightmarish conditions of his confinement. Myers expertly presents the many facets of his protagonist's character and readers will find themselves feeling both sympathy and repugnance for him. Steve searches deep within his soul to prove to himself that he is not the "monster" the prosecutor presented him as to the jury. Ultimately, he reconnects with his humanity and regains a moral awareness that he had lost. Christopher Myers's superfluous black-and-white drawings are less successful. Their grainy, unfocused look complements the cinematic quality of the text, but they do little to enhance the story. Monster will challenge readers with difficult questions, to which there are no definitive answers. In some respects, the novel is reminiscent of Virginia Walter's Making Up Megaboy (DK Ink, 1998), another book enriched by its ambiguity. Like it, Monster lends itself well to classroom or group discussion. It's an emotionally charged story that readers will find compelling and disturbing.
Edward Sullivan, New York Public Library
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Connections: Read the book to teens and discuss the characters and the emotions they are coping with as the book progresses. Discuss prison life, fear, values, integrity, honesty, and unfortunate happenings that can change the life of an individual because of circumstances and poor choices. The book is a script that can be used as a reader’s theatre. Try videoing the reader’s theatre, using the camera techniques mentioned in the book.

Additional works by Walter Dean Myers include:
Fiction:
THE MOUSE RAP
THE RIGHTEOUS REVENGE OF ARTEMIS BONNER
SCORPIONS
THE STORY OF THE THREE KINGDOMS

Nonfiction:
NOW IF YOUR TIME!: THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
GLORIOUS ANGELS: A CELEBRATION OF CHILDREN
BROWN ANGELS: AN ALBUM OF PICTURES AND VERSE
ANGEL TO ANGEL: A MOTHER’S GIFT OF LOVE