Walter Dean Myers

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Walter Dean Myers
Born August 12, 1937 (1937-08-12) (age 71)
Martinsburg, West Virginia, U.S.A.
Occupation novelist, nonfiction writer, poet
Genres Young adult literature
Notable work(s) Fallen Angels,
Scorpions,
Monster
Official website

Walter Dean Myers (born Walter Milton Myers, on August 12, 1937) is an African American author of young adult literature. Myers has written dozens of books, including novels and nonfiction works. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors five times. One of these books, Fallen Angels, has made the American Library Association's list of frequently challenged books, due to rough language and its depiction of the Vietnam War.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, his mother died when Myers was only two years old; he has little memory of her. Myers moved to Harlem, New York City, when he was three, to live with his foster parents, his mother's friends Florence Dean and her husband. Later, Myers took their surname as his middle name.

[edit] The Writer

After dropping out of high school, Myers joined the Army. This experience helped inform the writing of 1988's Fallen Angels, one of his most controversial and enduring books. Upon being discharged from the Army, Myers returned to New York where he worked loading trucks and in the post office while writing at night. Eventually, he entered and won a 1969 contest sponsored by the Council on Interracial Books for Children, which led to the publication of his first book for children, Where Does The Day Go?. His career began in earnest, however, when he began writing books for young adults.

In 1975, Myers published Fast Sam, Cool Clyde and Stuff, which was one of the first novels in the burgeoning genre known as "young adult literature." More so, it was one of the first books to deal with African-American characters in an urban setting. Myers would continue to write young adult realistic fiction throughout his career, helping shape the genre as a whole.

Myers has also published numerous volumes of poetry and a vast array of nonfiction works dealing with the African-American experience throughout history. Exploring everything from the accomplishments of Muhammad Ali to the struggle for freedom in Haiti, Myers brought to his nonfiction work the same attention to detail and rich language that characterizes his novels.

He continues to publish and receive honors, such as the 2006 title Jazz, which was a 2007 ALA Children's Notable Book and was illustrated by his son, Christopher Myers.

Myers now lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with his wife and three children.

[edit] Bibliography

It should be noted that most of Myers' works are based on his old neighborhood in Harlem, New York. He deals with the struggling urban teen, often depicting gang life, drug use, violence, and dealing with peers and peer pressure when one has found a way out. Myers generally writes about what he knows and has experienced.

  • Hoops (1983) - A promising basketball player tries not to end up like his former pro playing coach.
  • The Outside Shot (1984) - A Harlem talent goes to college for basketball.
  • Crystal (1987) A girl's life when she becomes a model.
  • Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff (1988)
  • Fallen Angels (1988): Young men in the army and their experiences in Vietnam
  • Won't Know 'Til I Get There (1988)
  • The Young Landlords (1989) - A group of kids take over an apartment building and then struggle to keep it up.
  • Scorpions (1990) - a 12-year-old is asked to lead his brother's gang
  • The Mouse Rap (1990) - A 14-year-old is determined to find the loot from a 1930s bank heist.
  • The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner (1994) - a 12-year-old boy goes after a man that murdered his uncle.
  • The Glory Field (1994)
  • Shadow of the Red Moon (1995)
  • Slam (1998) - Young black teen with an attitude problem deals with life on and off the basketball court.
  • Monster (1999) A 16-year-old black boy is charged with murder.
  • 145th Street: Short Stories (2001)
  • Greatest: Muhammad Ali (2001)
  • Bad Boy; A Memoir (2002) - a part of the Amistad Series, it is Myers' life stories as a young boy growing up in 1940s Harlem.
  • Handbook for Boys: A Novel (2003)
  • It Ain't All for Nothin (2003)
  • Somewhere in the Darkness (2003)
  • Thanks & Giving: All year long (2004)
  • Shooter (2005) - A school shooting leaves two friends of the shooter documenting what they know to the police.
  • Beast (2003)
  • Autobiography of My Dead Brother (2005)
  • Street Love (2006)
  • What They Found: Love on 145th Street (2007)
  • Harlem Summer (2007)
  • Game (2008)
  • Sunrise Over Fallujah (2008) - The sequel to Fallen Angels, taking place in the Iraq War.

[edit] Awards & Honors

Myers is the 1994 recipient of the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award for "lifetime contribution to young adult literature." (The titles cited for the Edwards Award were Hoops, Motown and Didi, Fallen Angels, and Scorpions.) Myers is a two-time Newbery Honor award winner for: Scorpions (1988) and Somewhere in the Darkness (1992). He is a five-time recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award for: The Young Landlords (1980), Motown and Didi: A Love Story (1985), Fallen Angels (1989), Now is Your Time: the African American Struggle for Freedom (1992), and Slam! (1997). Myers is also a two-time National Book Award Finalist for: Monster (1999) and Autobiography of My Dead Brother (2005). Among its many honors, Monster (1999) was the first-ever recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.

[edit] Referred to in other works

Myers is mentioned in Sharon Creech's 2001 poetic novella Love That Dog, in which a young boy admires Myers and invites the poet to visit his class.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Dean_Myers"
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