Bibliographic Information
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication year: 1999
ISBN: 978-0064407311
Reader’s Annotation
Steve Harmon is sixteen years old, accused of murder, and dealing with it by writing a screenplay about his experiences in prison and at his trial.
Plot Summary
Steve Harmon is sixteen years old and one of four people on trial for robbery and murder in a convenience store. Remembering his time in his high school’s film club, Steve decides to document everything happening to him in the form of a screenplay. Over the course of the trial Steve listens to the prosecutor call him a monster as the events of the crime are explained in harrowing detail. Steve flashes back to his parents’ reaction to his arrest and his dad visiting him in jail, all the while reflecting on how his decision to get involved with the scheme to rob the liquor store has changed the trajectory of his life.
Critical Evaluation
Monster is written in the format of a screenplay from the main character’s perspective, complete with movement commentary and camera directions. The only deviations from this are short journal entries that seem to occur when Steve cannot process his surroundings in the form of his screenplay and has to get his thoughts out as quickly as possible, in any form he can. By formatting the novel in such a way, Myers places the reader directly into Steve’s head as well as his environment. This is an especially effective device because of the situation in which Steve finds himself: on trial for murder because he made the decision to trust some untrustworthy people. In a way, this element makes Monster a cautionary tale; warning its young readers to think twice before agreeing to be an accessory to a crime.
Author Information
“I was born on a Thursday, the 12th of August, 1937, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. My name at birth was Walter Milton Myers. I was about two years old when my mother died and then I was inexplicably given to Florence and Herbert Dean. I was raised in Harlem by Herbert, who was African-American and Florence, who was German and Native American and wonderful. They loved me very much and I grew to love Harlem.
As a child, my life revolved around my neighborhood and church. The neighborhood protected me and the church guided me. I resisted as much as I could. I was smart (all kids are smart) but didn’t do that well in school. I had a speech impediment and often found myself leading with my fists when teased.
I found solace in books. My mother read to me from a very young age. From my comfortable perch on her lap, I would watch as she moved her finger slowly across the page and I’d imagine the characters. Reading pushed me to discover worlds beyond my landscape, especially during dark times when my uncle was murdered and my family became dysfunctional with alcohol and grief.
I wrote well in high school and an English teacher (bless her!) recognized this and advised me to keep on writing no matter what happened to me. “It’s what you do,” she said. I ended up dropping out of high school (although now Stuyvesant High claims me as a graduate) and joined the army on my 17th birthday.
After the army, I was struggling through life—holding on just enough to survive. Remembering my high school teacher’s words, I began writing at night. I wrote short columns for a local tabloid and stories for men’s magazines.
A turning point for me was the discovery of a short story by James Baldwin about the black urban experience. It gave me permission to write about my own experiences. Somehow I always go back to the most turbulent periods of my own life. I write books for the troubled boy I once was, and for the boy who lives within me still. It’s what I do.”
Source: http://walterdeanmyers.net/about/
Genre
Drama
Fiction
Curriculum Ties
Creative Writing
Language Arts
Social Studies
Booktalking Ideas
Ask the audience to think back to one of the worst things that has happened to them, and how they dealt with it. Were they able to deal with it at all? Explain that being on trial for murder is traumatic for Monster’s sixteen-year-old protagonist, and he copes by writing a movie script about everything that happens. Read the passage where the prosecutor calls him a monster. Then give a rating from 1-5 and tell the audience why this is my rating, and take questions.
Reading Level/Interest Age
School Library Journal: Grade 7 up
Challenging Issues
Language
Murder
PTSD
Racial Issues and Stereotypes
Violence
Preparing for Potential Challenges
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-potential-challenges.html
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-specific-challenges.html
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-specific-challenges_6.html
Why the Item Was Chosen
Although Monster was chosen as the first recipient of the ALA’s Michael L. Printz teen literature award in 2000, it is sometimes left out of lists of important young adult literature. The compelling characters and timeless story make it a valuable part of any collection, especially where young readers are involved. Myers’ choice to format the book as a screenplay written by the protagonist sets it apart from others in the genre, and immediately hooks the reader. Even though it is older than some of the other books I have chosen, I included it in my collection because I feel it will be appealing to young readers, even if they have never heard of it before.
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