Book Summary:
Steve Harmon is a young man with an interest in film making that ends up accused of being involved in a robbery. The hold-up results with the owner being shot and killed, and it becomes a murder trial. In the beginning Steve begins to recount his experience in jail while awaiting his trial, and he seems to regret the mess he got himself into. He is accused of being the look out man in the botched robbery, but he claims that he was not involved. The trial is seen through the lens of a camera, and is described as though it were a movie. It ends with him being found not guilty. When he hears the verdict he moves to hug his defense attorney Kathy O'Brien; however, she does not embrace him. A possible sign that she thinks he was guilty after all.
APA Reference of Book:
Myers, W. D. (1999). Monster. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Impressions:
Walter Dean Myers writes this story in an interesting format. The main character, Steve Harmon, is a film student at his high school, and so the story is told as though it were a script for a movie. The story follows Steve Harmon's involvement in a store holdup that ends up as a murder. The story reaches it climax at the end of the trial when he is found innocent of the charges. This story is written to give a lesson about crime and bad choices; however Myers's ending to the story leaves me wondering whether Harmon was involved or not. This story could have been a good lesson to those who make bad choices in life, instead it left me wondering if Harmon was clearly involved or not. He clearly made bad choices in the acquaintances he had, and the main participants in the crime do receive jail time.
Professional Review:
Gr
7 Up --Steve
Harmon, 16, is accused of serving as a lookout for a robbery of a Harlem
drugstore. The owner was shot and killed, and now Steve is in prison awaiting
trial for murder. From there, he tells about his case and his incarceration.
Many elements of this story are familiar, but Myers keeps it fresh and alive by
telling it from an unusual perspective. Steve, an amateur filmmaker, recounts
his experiences in the form of a movie screenplay. His striking scene-by-scene
narrative of how his life has dramatically changed is riveting. Interspersed
within the script are diary entries in which the teen vividly describes the
nightmarish conditions of his confinement. Myers expertly presents the many
facets of his protagonist's character and readers will find themselves feeling
both sympathy and repugnance for him. Steve searches deep within his soul to
prove to himself that he is not the "monster" the prosecutor
presented him as to the jury. Ultimately, he reconnects with his humanity and
regains a moral awareness that he had lost. Christopher Myers's superfluous
black-and-white drawings are less successful. Their grainy, unfocused look
complements the cinematic quality of the text, but they do little to enhance
the story. Monster will challenge readers with difficult questions, to which
there are no definitive answers. In some respects, the novel is reminiscent of
Virginia Walter s Making Up Megaboy (DK Ink, 1998), another book enriched by
its ambiguity. Like it, Monster lends itself well to classroom or group discussion.
It's an emotionally charged story that readers will find compelling and
disturbing.
Sullivan, E. (1999, July 1). [Review of book Monster, by W. D. Myers]. School Library Journal, 45(7), 98. Retrieved from www.slj.com
Library Uses:
A social studies class or civics class could use this to study court procedures and criminal cases. They can read the case and see if they think there is sufficient evidence to agree with the not guilty verdict at the end of the book. Students can also learn about jail conditions and making good choices in life in order to avoid this kind of a situation, and become good citizens.
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