Monster

Summary:
16 year old Steve Harmon is in jail awaiting trial for being an accomplice to murder during a store robbery. During his trial, his attorney, Kathy O'Brien, works to defend him while unsure whether Steve is innocent or guilty. Steve is accused of standing as a lookout for two others during the robbery and can be sentenced to death if found guilty. The book is narrated by Steve and is partially written as a script, as Steve is part of his high school film club and wants to become a filmmaker. This book takes a hard look at the criminal justice system, overt and hidden racism and peer pressure. In the end, Steve is found innocent and released and continues his film making.

Strengths: 
This book left me feeling unsettled, which seems to be the intent. The themes in the book are complex - underlying and systemic racism, the effects that being part of the criminal justice system has on young men, particularly those of color, the strengths and weaknesses of the judicial system in America and the lives of young men in poverty are all themes that are woven within the book. The narrative style is told as a script written by Steve and includes film directions and effects so that the reader feels like they are actually reading a script. In the end, the reader is left with some ambiguity as to what Steve's role was in the robbery and whether that role should have been punishable by the death penalty in the first place. This book is incredibly thought provoking for adult as well as adolescent readers.

Other Books by Walter Dean Myers:

Dopesick
Bad Boy: A Memoir

 Myers, W., & Myers, C. (1999). Monster. New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins.