What five book Walter dean myer written?

Answer 1

Dr. Wally Hastings - Northern State University

Walter Dean Myers

1937-

Life:

Myers was born into a large West Virginia family in 1937, in the midst of the Great Depression. Two years after his birth, his mother died, leaving his father with eight children to care for and no job. In 1939, his father's previous wife, a mixed-race (white/Native American) woman from whom he had been divorced due to family pressures, came to take her two daughters with her to New York, where she now lived with her second husband, Herbert Dean. The Deans decided to adopt Walter along with his half-sisters, and so he came to grow up in Harlem.

Though poorly educated themselves, the Deans taught Walter to read by the time he was four. His mother had Walter read to her every day from True Romance magazine and eventually from other sources, and his father and grandfather told him stories. Despite his obvious ability, though, young Walter had trouble on the playground because of a speech impediment; he was frequently involved in fights when the other children teased him, so much so that by the time he was in fourth grade, he was threatened with suspension. Fortunately, his fifth grade teacher recognized his writing ability and channeled his energy into creative writing.

Walter's childhood life revolved around the church, which was not just a place of worship but an activity center where he learned Basketball and dance. He says, "I am a product of Harlem and of the values, color, toughness, and caring that I found there as a child."

His talents brought Walter a place in an accelerated junior high program and ultimately at Stuyvesant High School, a strong academic environment (the same school that Steve Harmon attends in Monster). Again, one of his teachers encouraged his writing, and he received some writing awards; but his school attendance became spotty as he would spend days reading and writing in the park rather than attending class.

Myers began hanging with the "wrong crowd," and, knowing his family couldn't afford college, dropped out of high school at 15. He soon returned but then left again, and at the age of 17 joined the army to escape. After three years, he returned to civilian life, taking a factory job in New Jersey and then a position with the Post Office. He married a woman he met in the Post Office job and began once again to write - publishing stories and poetry in (mostly) black-oriented magazines.

Myers took college classes but did not finish school; meanwhile, his first marriage was falling apart under the strain. In 1970, he was hired as an acquisitions editor for Bobbs Merrill, a publisher interested in developing more black writers for young people. Already, he had published his first children's book, a picture book published by Parents Magazine Press. Myers had written it for a contest, "more because I wanted to write anything than because I wanted to write a picture book." In 1975, he wrote his first young adult novel, Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff. Two years later, he left Bobbs Merrill and undertook to write full time.

Supporting oneself by writing alone requires discipline. Myers' daily routine begins with early rising, usually before 5 a.m., for a daily 5-mile walk. He returns home and showers, then starts into work by about 7: "I try to get ten pages done. Once I do my ten pages, that's it."

The idea for Monster goes back to a series of interviews with prisoners Myers did during one of his attempts at college, in the late '70s:I did 600 pages of interviews with prisoners in New York and New Jersey. And patterns began to emerge. They all knew why they were in jail; they knew what crimes they had committed or had been accused of committing, but they never seemed to be really sure of the path that had got thm there. . . . All these people felt that they were good people. They were always talking about whether they were guilty or innocent, and the discussion were legal arguments. (Rochman)

Later, he witnessed the trial of a 17-year-old charged with armed robbery and attempted murder, right across the street from a high school, and was struck by the short distance between those ordinary students and this young man's situation.

Walter Dean Myers twice received Newbery Honor recognition (for Scorpions, 1989, and Somewhere in the Darkness, 1993) and is a three-time recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award. In 2000, Monster (a Coretta Scott King Honor book) was named the first winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for "literary excellence in young adult literature."

Monster:

The question of guilt or innocence: Do we think Steve is guilty or innocent? We have been given pretty much all of the evidence that the jury is considering (plus a little more conveyed by his journal writing) - so if we were on the jury, how would we judge?

Myers avoids a simplistic view of his character's role. We know that Steve was in the store the day of the killing, and that he had discussed his role with James King. Steve says he did not signal the others; they say he did. We are never shown directly what happened when Steve emerged from the store. Steve's own father and his defense attorney both seem to have doubts about his innocence. Under the law, if he conspired with others to commit a felony (the robbery), and someone dies in the course of that felony (no matter how the death occurs), all of the conspirators may be guilty of felony murder. So there are hints that he may be guilty.

On the other hand, we have ample testimony that he is basically a good kid - his teacher, his mother, his relationship with his little brother. We don't see him actually agree to take part, just that he was present when the job was planned. If we believe that his job was to signal the others that the coast was clear, we have to accept a relatively far-fetched argument that "no signal" was the signal. And he never received his "taste" of the proceeds. Is this enough doubt to find him not guilty? If he is "not guilty," is he also necessarily "innocent"?

Additionally, there is the question of proportionate punishment. Even though some may conclude that he is guilty under the law, life in prison seems a pretty stiff penalty for a first offense, when he himself wasn't even present at the time the killing occurred.

Myers says that when he talks to young people about Monster, their responses are interesting: "When I ask them, 'So what's the story with Steve?' they come up with various answers about his legal guilt, but eventually some kid does say that whether Steve's legally guilty or innocent doesn't make any difference; he is guilty. And to me, that's the essence of the book. Apart from legal machinations, is he accepting his moral responsibility for what he's done or is he just trying to avoid it?" (Rochman)

The issue of the novel's form: Myers uses the two types of narration - Steve's journals and his film script - as a means of showing how people create distance between their sense of themselves and their actions. When Steve writes in the journal, we get an insight into how he feels; when he writes about his crime, he uses the film script to distance himself from this act

That, at any rate, is what the author tries to do. Does it work? We are accustomed to watching movies, and a film script - which provides cues as to closeup, long shot, and other details of scene that a play script cannot - is a bit closer to traditional narration as well in its ability to set the scene and mood. But it is still often more difficult to read a dramatic text, which is normally intended to be performed, than a typical narration. Here, Myers is writing what looks like a dramatic text, but what is intended to be read, not actually filmed. Does this create a degree of difficulty in our understanding the book?

Between journal entries and the film script, we get a number of shifts back and forth across time. This is not a simple narrative in chronological sequence. What effect does that have on our reading experience?

The matter of Steve Harmon's identity: We get various testimonials as to who other people see Steve as being - the prosecutor describes him as a monster, his teacher sees him as a gifted student and a gentle soul, etc. But, as always with the adolescent novel, the great task of this character is to determine for himself who he is. What kind of evidence is there?

He seems to accept the prosecutor's characterization when he names his film, "Monster," and again when he writes the word over and over on his scratch pad, until his lawyer makes him stop and tells him, "You have to believe in yourself if we're going to convince a jury that you're innocent" (24). Interestingly, she doesn't seem to believe him, either, since she never states that he is innocent during her summation, only that he should be found "not guilty," and she shrinks back from his attempt to hug her after his acquittal.

His brother Jerry admires him, and to Jerry, Steve says he would like to be Superman - but his motive is that as Superman, "I'd kick butt" (58). This scene comes not long after one in which he throws a rock and hits a tough guy, then runs away (42-43). Which is Steve's true "secret identity" - the guy who runs away, or the butt-kicking Superman?

In his journal, Steve writes: "I want to look like a good person. I want to feel like I'm a good person because I believe I am. But being in here with these guys makes it hard to think about yourself as being different. We look about the same, and even though I'm younger than they are, it's hard not to notice that we are all pretty young." (62) Steve has to deal with some strong prejudicial stereotypes that may affect jurors (and readers) - the fact that so many young black men are or have been in prison, for instance, may predispose some observers to conclude that they are all "monsters"; as Ms. O'Brien says, "You're young, you're black, and you're on trial. What else do they need to know?" (79) Steve is in danger, here and elsewhere, of accepting the negative stereotype as his actual identity. At one point, he says that he feels like the word "Monster" has been stamped on his forehead.

Steve's sense of his self-identity is further strained when he realizes that his father is no longer sure of who he is. When Steve asks his father if he believes that Steve did nothing wrong, the father is unable to give him the reassurance he asks for, and instead tells him about his own aspirations for Steve, along with his failure ever to imagine visiting his son in prison (111-12).

Sources: "Author Profile: Walter Dean Myers," Teenreads.com, http;//www.teenreads.com/authors/au-Myers-walterdean.asp; Rudine Sims Bishop, Presenting Walter Dean Myers, Boston: Twayne, 1991; Hazel Rochman, "The Booklist Interview: Walter Dean Myers," Booklist 96 (February 15, 2000), http://www.ala.org/booklist/v96/youth/fe2/69interv.htm; "Walter Dean Myers," Contemporary Authors Online, The Gale Group, 2001; "Walter Dean Myers," http://www.aalbc.com/authors/walter1.htm)

A. Waller Hastings

Professor of English

Northern State University

Aberdeen, SD 57401

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Page last updated May 3, 2002

Dr. Wally Hastings - Northern State University

Walter Dean Myers

1937-

Life:

Myers was born into a large West Virginia family in 1937, in the midst of the Great Depression. Two years after his birth, his mother died, leaving his father with eight children to care for and no job. In 1939, his father's previous wife, a mixed-race (white/Native American) woman from whom he had been divorced due to family pressures, came to take her two daughters with her to New York, where she now lived with her second husband, Herbert Dean. The Deans decided to adopt Walter along with his half-sisters, and so he came to grow up in Harlem.

Though poorly educated themselves, the Deans taught Walter to read by the Tim