On the nightstand: Monster by Walter Dean Myers

I didn't pick this book.  It was another assignment for school.  Walter Dean Myers though is a very popular and prolific YA author.  I remember when I was student teaching, a student in my honors English I class read this book outside of class.  She was not the sort that I had pegged to read a book about a boy on trial for murder.  But she said it was very good.

My biggest criticism of Monster is for a highly tumultuous event, there is very little inciting action to hook readers.  We don't know Steve Harmon before the trial and so we don't know whether or not we should sympathize with his plight or not.  In the beginning, his fear is described, but it is a fear for what could happen not as much for what he'd be missing.

I liked that Myers gave a unique structure to the novel, having the narrator Steve write about the trial in third person via a screenplay.  His attention to detail gave us a bit more characterization than straight narrative would.  What Steve chooses to highlight shows us what he is concerned about.

It's a quick read; though I suspect the struggling readers who may be intrigued by the plot may doubt that and be turned off by its 280 pages.  That's a shame.  The book challenges readers to think about justice and whether Steve truly is innocent and what role actions play in defining character.  The message is clear without being moralistic and childish.

And just because I'm proud of my archive/gallery page, you can check out how I've organized all most of my book reviews from the blog here.

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