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Module 1 - Book Review 2 - MONSTER Written by: Walter Dean Myers


Module 1 – Book Review 2 

Review of Walter Dean Myers’ MONSTER 

*This review was written for a course through Sam Houston State University. 

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Myers, W.D. (1999). MONSTER. Ill. by Christopher Myers. ISBN: 978-0060280772 

2. PLOT SUMMARY 

In Monster, Walter Dean Myers tells the story of Steve Harmon, a sixteen-year-old whose like if turned upside down when he is arrested and then tried for his “alleged” role in a robbery that ended in murder. The story is told through Steve’s journal entries, pieces of a screenplay, and spare verse. Even with the minimal words, we can see his fear, confusion, and desperate attempts to make sense of what has happened. Throughout Steve’s view of the drama in the courtroom, memories and relationships, we see his struggle with being labeled “monster.” The circumstances make him come face to face with his own mortality, who he is, and what he has done. His personal reflections are complicated, and he does what he can to hold on to some shred of who he is. 

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS  

Walter Dean Myers’ Monster is a novel that focuses on the themes of identity, perception, and justice through a unique story structure that combines the format of a screenplay along with personal journal entries. The main character, Steve Harmon, is detached from the trial, but it also shows his ultimate fear of being defined as a “monster.” The format the author uses is interesting as it gives the reader a way to see from the outside (like watching a show) but also being privy to Steve’s thoughts and internal struggle. The theme of the book is identity and perception, and it focuses on Harmon’s struggle with his own identity and how it’s shaped by others’ perceptions. Myers looks at how race, environment, and stereotypes impact a person’s perception, showing how quickly society can assign labels that affect how a person is judged. Throughout the story, it is difficult to tell just how guilty Steve feels, and it makes the story complex and thought-provoking about the realities of evidence and the harshness of bias. The story is a social commentary on the criminal justice system, focusing on the impact on colored youth. Alongside the story itself, the format is an important piece to the accessibility it maintains for the audience of young adult literature. As a theatre director, I can say this book really spoke to what it means to “get into a character’s head.” Seeing the guilt and confusion, but also the uncertainty of how others perceive him, makes every choice and thought an opportunity for the reader to truly think about the situation and what morality means. 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) 

Book Report (September/October 1999) 

Unlike the subjects of other horror stories, the monster in this book is the dark side of human nature. Steve Harmon, a young, black male, has been charged with murder, but no one, not even Steve, is certain of his ability (or inability) to be involved in such a crime. The story alternates between Steve's play and his daily journal, the physical qualities of the book complementing to the text. Myers has created sympathetic, believable characters with whom readers of all ages should be able to relate. Highly Recommended. By Linda D. Behen, librarian, St. Ursula Academy, Cincinnati, Ohio 

Booklist (Vol. 95, No. 17 (May 1, 1999)) 

Gr. 9-12. Myers combines an innovative format, complex moral issues, and an intriguingly sympathetic but flawed protagonist in this cautionary tale of a 16-year-old on trial for felony murder. Script and journal together create a fascinating portrait of a terrified young man wrestling with his conscience. The tense drama of the courtroom scenes will enthrall readers, but it is the thorny moral questions raised in Steve's journal that will endure in readers' memories. 

Horn Book Guide starred (Fall 1999) 

Arrested and charged with murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is writing a screenplay of his ordeal. Balancing courtroom drama and a sordid jailhouse setting with flashbacks to the crime, Myers adeptly allows each character to speak for him or herself, leaving readers to judge for themselves the truthfulness of the defendants, witnesses, lawyers, and, most compellingly, Steve himself. 

Horn Book Magazine (May/June, 1999) 

Interspersed with his handwritten journal entries, Steve's script makes up a novel that in both form and subject guarantees a wide teen audience. Balancing courtroom drama and a sordid jailhouse setting with flashbacks to the robbery that resulted in a shopkeeper's murder, Myers adeptly allows each character to speak for him or herself, leaving readers to judge for themselves the truthfulness of the defendants, witnesses, lawyers, and, most compel-lingly, Steve himself.  

Kirkus Reviews (1999) 

The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve's terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers's point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a "positive moral decision" was not made. 

5. CONNECTIONS  

Related Book - Other books related to Monster’s themes of identity, resilience, and personal growth 

  • Hesse, Karen. OUT OF THE DUST. ISBN. 978-0590371254 

  • Enrichment Activities -     

  • Mock trial – Assign students roles for a classroom mock trial using key scenes from the book. 

  • Character diaries – Have students write diary entries from each main character’s point of view during a turning point in their story. 

6. AWARDS 

  • Coretta Scott King Author Honor, 2000 

  • Michael L. Printz Award, 2000 

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