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Part I: Bibliographic information
Type: Fiction/YA
Title: Monster
Writer: Walter Dean Myers
Illustrator: Christopher Myers
Copyright Date: 1999
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 0-06-028078-6
Genre/subgenre: YA Novel/Diary
Interest Age: 13+
Reading Level: Upper Grades (UG 9-12)
Pages: 281
Awards: National Book Award Finalist (2000);Coretta Scott King Award Finalist (2000); Printz Award for Excellence in YA Fiction (2000).
Part I: Reader’s Annotation, Plot Summary, Critical Evaluation
Reader’s Annotation -- An African-American teen finds himself on trial for murder after the older guys that actually commit the robbery and murder seek a plea bargain. HIs time in jail and on trail are painstakingly recounted in his own works in the form of a journal and screenplay he makes up as it goes along.
Plot Summary -- Steve, a smart young man from a decent family in Harlem who is interested in filmmaking, finds himself in jail and being held as an adult on murder charges. He does not feel like he belongs there. He’s afraid and knows he cannot last in jail for twenty years. He thinks of suicide but the don’t make that easy. He cannot let go of the word the prosecuting attorney Petrocelli used for them -- she called the four accused men “monsters”.
Somehow he avoids being victimized while in jail but he witnesses assaults almost daily. His attorney says it’s going to be difficult to win his trail and he must not give up. To quiet his mind, he makes the story into a screenplay. The parade of witnesses, the attorneys, the judge all are involved in telling the story as the testimony and trial unfolds. He even notes the camera angles. This is interspersed with handwritten journal entries that serve as a confessional of sorts that is attorney asks him to keep. He tells how he met with these guys randomly in the neighborhood. How he came to know about the robbery. But he knows he did not kill a man. He is not a murderer in his own eyes.
His lawyer is a seasoned female defense attorney named O’Brien. She tells Steve that they must distance him from Bobo -- or Mr. Bolden -- who planned the heist in the first place and turns on the three other guys to lessen his charges. Bobo is in his early twenties and is a known drug dealer with a long record. He and James King carry out the robbery. His other accomplices are the two minors -- Steve and Osvaldo -- and Bobo’s version points to King, a drug user, as the shooter.
And, they all get arrested when another prisoner who they don’t know but whom got some of cigarettes from the robbery trades the information on the crime for early release. Then Bobo and Osvaldo roll on the others -- and each testifies against King and Steve -- for their own sake in terms of plea bargains. Bobo points to Steve as the look-out guy on several occasions, and it’s not looking good for Steve, who goes back to jail at night and lives in fear and dread.
Steve’s mother visits him in prison but can only cry. She believes in his innocence as does his father. He’s always been a good kid. But Steve feels like nobody else does not even his attorney O’Brien. He grapples with how he ended up in this circumstance. He is confused and scared. He hears other guys talking about lying. He feels it’s his only hope. But the others identify him as clearly part of the crime. He goes to the stand after the others and says he was not in the store that day. He does not remember what he was doing but he was not there. Another witness -- his film teacher -- is called to vouch for his character. Yet the prosecutor does a good job underlying that Steve has no alibi for that day.
Closing statements by Steve’s attorney give a glimmer of hope that in fact there is little connecting him to this crime. The primary accuser is a known criminal with a motive for rolling on someone. The prosecutor does an equally convincing job of stating the case against the four men. We are almost convinced of both but then we know from Steve’s self-admission that he did in fact collaborate on some level with the plan. He is admittedly guilty of participation as a lookout. Steve ends his film with judge’s remarks over and over -- he instructs the as to when they “...must return a verdict of felony murder” for each man.
The tension is high and James King and Steve Harmon are in a cell together. The guards tease them about their time in jail being 25 years or life. The are taken to the court and the King verdict is guilty. Harmon’s verdict is read and the verdict is not guilty. He turns to his attorney and she turns away. Month’s later in his real life he continues his filmmaking and self-reflection. He feels like his father sees him differently now like his attorney. But he ask himself what does she see?
Critical Evaluation -- This award-winning book takes what might just be a newspaper clipping or :30 second television news story and makes it personal. We see how this young man -- in spite of his essential goodness -- is capable of poor judgement just as we all are. We see how the system is set up to perceive young black men as criminals. We see how even the attorney seems to have doubts in Steve though she encourages him to stay the course. We also know that Steve’s lies are what get him off in the end. He stays the course but he has to live with who his is. And, to use the words of the prosecuting attorney, these men are monsters.
For any young person who might be on the fringes of back behavior, this book offers a reality check. One small back decision can lead to a series of events that might land you in jail for the rest of your life. And not the jail we imagine. This is the real thing in which angry men are caged together for years on end and act out against one another in frustration and violence. This is a place that could take away your humanity and your sanity as Steve soon finds out. We are left to believe that although Steve has trouble with the idea of his own complicity he knows he does not belong in prison for his entire life. He has a good part and he seems intent on using it.
Part III: Author Info
The following is excerpted from Walter Dean Myers website: “I was born on a Thursday, the 12th of August, 1937, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. My name at birth was Walter Milton Myers. For some strange reason I was given to a man named Herbert Dean who lived in Harlem. I consider it strange because I don't know why I was given away. I was raised in Harlem by Herbert and his wife, Florence. Herbert was African American….Anyway.... I wrote well in high school and a teacher (bless her!) recognized this and also knew I was going to drop out. She advised me to keep on writing no matter what happened to me. "It's what you do," she said. I didn't know exactly what that meant but, years later, working on a construction job in New York, I remembered her words. I began writing at night and eventually began writing about the most difficult period of my own life, the teen years. That's what I do” (Myers, n.d.).
Myers is an award-winning author of young adult literature. Kirkus Reviews has called him one of the most important writers of children’s books of our age. It’s hard to argue that’s not the case since there really is not direct comparison in the realm of realistic fiction for young adults that addresses any number of hot-button issues of our times involving race, youth and hope. He has always loved basketball and many of his books involve basketball in the stories.
Part IV: Curriculum Ties, Diversity, Booktalk Ideas, Challenge Issues
Curriculum Ties, if any -- This book might be used in conjunction with an English course to satisfy a diversity requirement.
Diversity of Cultures -- The novel deals with the issue of crime in America in relation to a young black man. This is an arena that is very controversial as we do have an epidemic of crime in this country that puts too many people behind bars and a disproportionate number of them are young minorities.
Booktalking Ideas -- Legally speaking Steve should be convicted of felony murder. Yet his is just a boy who made a bad decision to not separate himself from some people with messed up lives or low moral standards. Is trying a boy as a man fair to the child? Are we not sending the message that there is no coming back once you’ve gone to bad? Are we perhaps making monsters in this way?
Challenge Issues -- There is drug use and violence in this work -- as well as negative portrayals of young black men as criminally minded and indifferent.
Part V: Reasons Chosen
Walter Dean Myers is known for taking on tough subjects and dealing realistically with characters that might be characterized as troubled youth. He does so while still maintaining their duality as possessing both negative and positive character traits, however. In other words, he does not demonize all of his character even when they are troubles or make poor choices. He finds the goodness and strength in the character of Steve -- and in Steve we has a sense of a young man who made a bad choice but is sincere in his desire to figure out his mistake so long as he’s not locked up forever for it. It reads like a work that is a warning to young people about the dangers of making rash decisions and engaging in bravado.
Part VI: Citations
Myers, W. (n.d.). Walter Dean Myers Biography. Retrieved from http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/bio.html
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