Monster

Bibliography

Myers, Dean Walter. 1999. MONSTER. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0060280778

Plot Summary

“The best time to cry is at night, when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and screaming for help. That way even if you sniffle a little they won’t hear you. If anybody knows that you are crying, they’ll start talking about it and soon it’ll be your turn to get beat up when the lights go out.”

Steve Harmon, a sixteen year old aspiring filmmaker, is on trial for a felony murder. He has been accused of being the “lookout” for a drugstore robbery and murder. If he is found guilty, he could serve 25 years to life in prison. Steve is having a hard time believing that this is real and so he decides to create a movie of his experiences. “I’ll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. MONSTER” Throughout the novel, Steve writes a scene-by-scene narrative of the trial and records his thoughts in a diary.

Critical Analysis

Walter Dean Myers has created a suspenseful story of a young African American boy’s struggle to find his own identity when he finds himself on trial for helping his Harlem “acquaintances” rob a drugstore. To separate himself from the realities of the trial and being in a detention center, Steve Harmon has chosen to write a screenplay of the trial. The majority of the story is told in dialogue. The characters’ names are typed in bold and the dialogue directly follows. He even shares voice-overs and camera angles. At the end of each day, Steve “handwrites” in his journal his thoughts and feelings of the trial and life in prison. A few black and white photos are later revealed in the novel; however they do not add to the story.

During his incarceration and trial, Steve describes the harsh realities of life in the small cells of the detention center. “They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can’t kill yourself no matter how bad it is.” We see the struggle that Steve deals with as he searches to prove to others and himself that he isn’t the “Monster” that he has been labeled. “Steve Harmon made a moral decision.” He replays this sentence and the choices that he made over and over and wonders who he is. This struggle is relevant to both Steve and the reader as both have to make moral decisions that may cost them. As the verdict is read and Steve is found innocent, readers will have to grapple with their own decision’s they have made about Steve’s innocence.

Meyers’ unusual format is innovative and engaging. This novel will challenge readers to think about the consequences that they may encounter if they do not make positive moral decisions.

Review Excerpts

National Book Award-Finalist-1999

Coretta Scott King Award-Honor

Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Literature-ALA 1999

Booklist review: “Myers combines an innovative format, complex moral issues, and an intriguingly sympathetic but flawed protagonist in this cautionary tale of a 16-year-old on trial for felony murder.”

School Library Journal review: “Myers expertly presents the many facets of his protagonist's character and readers will find themselves feeling both sympathy and repugnance for him…Monster will challenge readers with difficult questions, to which there are no definitive answers.”

Connections

Other titles by Walter Dean Myers include:

Myers, Walter Dean. IT AIN’T ALL FOR NOTHIN’. ISBN 0064473112

Myers, Walter Dean. SCORPIONS. ISBN 0064406237

Myers, Walter Dean. THE BEAST. ISBN 0439368421