Book Review: Monster by Walter Dean Myers

So why am I on a Walter Dean Myers kick? Myers wrote over 100 books, many about living black in urban areas. He died in 2014 but many of his stories are still relevant today.

Monster is about a 16-year-old Steve Harmon who aspires to be film producer, but finds himself locked up, among many black and brown teens, at the Manhattan detention center. He is on trial for murder after a store owner was killed during the course of a robbery. Steve allegedly made sure that there was no one in the store before this robbery took place. But is he guilty? Steve narrates this story through a film script that he writes as the plot develops. The title? The prosecutor calls Steve a Monster, and begins to wonder if that is true.