Walter Dean Myers

Monster

Walter Dean Myers

• 2000 Printz winner
• 2000 Edgar-Young Adult nominee
• 1999 Horn Book-fiction honor
• 1999 LATimes–Young Adult finalist
• 1999 NBA–Youth finalist
• Score: 34.5

Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for murder. Guilty or innocent, Steve becomes a pawn in the hands of “the system,” cluttered with cynical authority figures and unscrupulous inmates, who will turn in anyone to shorten their own sentences.

An amateur filmmaker, Steve decides to transcribe his trial into a script, just like in the movies. He writes it all down, scene by scene, the story of how his whole life was turned around in an instant. But despite his efforts, reality is blurred and his vision obscured until he can no longer tell who he is or what is the truth. This compelling novel is Walter Dean Myers’s writing at its best.

Now is Your Time!: The African-American Struggle for Freedom

Walter Dean Myers

• 1992 CS King-Author winner
• 1991 Golden Kite-nonfiction honor
• Score: 16.42

A history of the African-American struggle for freedom and equality, beginning with the capture of Africans in 1619, continuing through the American Revolution, the Civil War, and into contemporary times.

Harlem: A Poem

Walter Dean Myers, Christopher Myers

• 1998 Caldecott honor
• 1997 Horn Book-fiction honor
• Score: 12.48

Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and James Baldwin have sung their songs about Harlem. Now Newbery Honor author Walter Dean Myers joins their chorus in calling to life the deep, rich and hope-filled history of this community. Christopher Myers’ boldly assembled art resonates with feeling and tells a tale all its own. The words and pictures together connect readers of all ages to the spirit of Harlem in its music, art, literature, and everyday life.

Somewhere in the Darkness

Walter Dean Myers

• 1993 Newbery honor
• 1992 Horn Book-fiction honor
• Score: 12.43

Jimmy’s doing all right. He’s fourteen, lives in Harlem with Mama Jean, and is managing to hold his own in a tough and brutal world. One day Jimmy’s world changes when, in a dark hallway of his apartment building, a tall, thin man appears. The man is his father, Crab, who left nine years ago.Crab wants to be part of Jimmy’s life again, but Jimmy’s not so sure what he wants.

Jazz

Walter Dean Myers, Christopher Myers

• 2006 Golden Kite-picturebook text winner
• Score: 10.56

From bebop to New Orleans, from ragtime to boogie, and every style in between...

Slam!

Walter Dean Myers

• 1997 CS King-Author winner
• Score: 10.47

Seventeen-year-old "Slam" Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life, but his coach sees things differently.

Fallen Angels

Walter Dean Myers

• 1989 CS King-Author winner
• Score: 10.39

Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

Motown and Didi

Walter Dean Myers

• 1985 CS King-Author winner
• Score: 10.35

Motown and Didi, two teenage loners in Harlem, become allies in a fight against Touchy, the drug dealer whose dope is destroying Didi's brother, and find themselves falling in love with each other.

The Young Landlords

Walter Dean Myers

• 1980 CS King-Author winner
• Score: 10.3

Five devoted friends become landlords and try to make their Harlem neighborhood a better place to live.

What They Found: Love on 145th Street

Walter Dean Myers

• 2007 LATimes–Young Adult finalist
• Score: 6.57

Walter Dean Myers returns to the world of 145th Street: Short Stories to show how love can be found, and thrive, in the most unlikely places. Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive in a war he doesn’t want to fight, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. There is the “good daughter” who realizes that there’s only one way to help her brother and her family. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion.