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Many of his books have received awards including, Where Does the Day Go? (1968 Council on Interracial Books for Children Award) The Dancers (1972 Child Study Association of America's Children's Books of the Year) Fast Sam, Cool Clyde and Stuff (1975 ALA Notable Children's Books List) Ain't All for Nothin' (1978 ALA Notable Children's Books List, 1978 ALA Best Books For Young Adults List) The Young Landlords (1980 Coretta Scott King Award, 1979 ALA Notable Children's Books List, 1979 ALA Best Books For Young Adults List) Legend of Tarik (1982 Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies from the National Council for Social Studies and the Children's Book Council, 1981 ALA Notable Children's Books List,1981 ALA Best Books For Young Adults List) Hoops (1994 Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing for Young Adults (1994), and ALAN Award (1994). He has received many awards, including National Endowment of the Arts grant (1982 & 1989) the MacDowell Fellowship (1988) American Library Association (ALA) Margaret A. His autobiography which was written for young people is entitled, Bad Boy: a Memoir (2002). Myers was born in West Virginia but raised in Harlem. Walter Dean Myers is the author of more than 75 books for young people. It is a sad, but I imagine a realistic picture of the legal process where for all but the defendant, it is just another day on the job in the legal system.
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Except for the protagonist and his family, few of the characters are emotionally invested in the trial. The judge, the jurors, and the court officers are portrayed as bored by the proceedings or more interested in their own personal lives. The lawyers, in general, are portrayed as sharp game players out to win their case. Harmon's lawyer while upbeat, only half-heartedly believes he will get off. The witnesses are not always the most stellar, up-standing citizens and included a drug dealer, a car thief, and a number of prison "moles" in it to cut a deal for a reduced sentence. The conditions of the cells are portrayed as squalid and the prison environment is filled with assorted dangerous, violent, and lust-filled predators. There are no heroic detectives turning over every last leaf to find the definitive shred of evidence revealing the protagonist's innocence. There are no crusaders for justice facing off hordes of evil to see justice done.
MONSTER WALTER DEAN MYERS STUDY GUIDE TRIAL
Unlike court cases shown in the movies and on television, this trial has no glitz…no glamour. The novel is a murder trial from the prisoner's point of view. Suspense is kept right up to the very last page when the verdict is finally read. Through Harmon's eyes reader gets to meet the lawyers, court officers, the witnesses, and Harmon's various cellmates. The novel describes Harmon's experience during the twelve days of the trial both at the courthouse and in the Manhattan Detention Center. Harmon and James King, a 23-year old man, were arrested and are now on trial. The register was emptied and a number of cartons of cigarettes were stolen.
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On December 22nd at about 4:30pm, Alguinaldo Nesbitt, a 55-year old man from St Kitt, is shot and killed during the robbery of his drugstore in Harlem. Steve Harmon, the 16-year old African-American protagonist, is on trial for felony murder. The novel is constructed in the form of a film script detailing the progress of a trial with occasional flashbacks. Monster by Walter Dean Myers is an engrossing and thought provoking novel about a young man on trial for murder.