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Friday, June 10, 2011

The Courage to Care


 "Myers is arguably one of the
most important writers of
children's books of our age..."


-- Kirkus Reviews

Walter Dean Myers' Monster manages to provide a new perspective on what a novel can be -- and do. "Myers bends the novel form for this riveting courtroom drama that explores the guilt or innocence of a teenage boy involved in a murder," wrote Publisher's Weekly in a Best Books citation. (May, 2001)

Walter Dean Myers’ multicultural, multi-media masterpiece is worthy of serious consideration for the M. E. T. R. O. Award. 
Part screenplay, part diary, part philosophical fable -- Myers has crafted a truly novel courtroom drama in the creation of his Monster. The widely acclaimed author weaves a tale that causes us to question what we know and believe about race, justice, and truth in American society today.

Monster has been universally praised by critics as the finest of young adult literary works. But perhaps more importantly, the book is a monster success with young adults!
Myers' themes not only reflect every major developmental task of adolescence, the book plugs in to the radical changes of technology to deliver the experience of its 16-year-old protagonist -- would-be filmmaker, Steve Harmon. A defendant on trial for murder, he ponders his guilt, innocence, identity and destiny by crafting a video diary of his experience in prison.

Like a modern-day Hamlet, Steve Harmon forces us to confront issues of culpability, moral ambiguity, objective vs. subjective truth and the relationship between perception and reality. Steve's photo-realistic word recording strategy recalls the Oedipal complexity and introspective meta-analysis of Hamlet's conscience-catching:  

"The play's the thing!"
 
The cinematic manifesto from this haunted Hamlet of Harlem effortlessly cross-fades from an emotional close-up to a wide-angle lens on peer pressure, social identity, prejudice and political power.

In the School Library Journal, Edward Sullivan said:  "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."

"Myers unravels Steve Harmon's story so masterfully, so sensitively," said Cathy Young, founder of Read-This.com, "that very few readers will be able to set the book down without feeling as though their own lives have been changed somehow. Yes, Monster is that good."




Monster is an unqualified success, a quick read -- and it is available in audio format which fulfills the final category requirement for those in awesome Group A!
  
Please consider joining the following cadre of critics who agree that the model of a meaningful, engaging, transcendent, resonant and original work of young adult literature is exemplified in Walter Dean Myers’ Monster.


Monster List of Awards . . .




Linking Literature to Reel Life

More than just a great story, literature is the great telling of a story. This connection between -- art/craft, meaning/style, writer/reader -- activates metacognition and prompts growth.

The hallmark of a great teen read is its metacognitive effect on the teens who read it. Is it a mirror that provokes the shock of recognition? Or a window providing a new way to see the world? Does it inspire insight?

Additionally, a truly great work of young adult literature should validate the perspectives, support the priorities, and promote the personal passions of young people.

Monster, by Walter Dean Myers is a uniquely insightful model of young adult literature. The work is an "extremely rare," towering achievement in virtually every area of literary excellence, developmental relevance and resonance with the adolescent journey.



Literary Value

Monster is Pertinent

It conveys something relevant to the lives of young adults
It is authentic, socially conscious and culturally competent

Monster is Purposeful

It examines vital questions and enduring truths
It activates metacognition and  strategic  questioning

Monster is Powerful

It is innovative, unique, and distinct in many ways
It is a well-crafted, aesthetically pleasing,
fully realized work of art


Monster is Persuasive

It stirs the senses and arouses the spirit
It is emotionally convincing and morally satisfying



Developmental Relevance


Nearly 45% of our public school students are children and young adults of color. Monster is widely popular because generally, the text is found to be acceptable for nearly the entire range of diverse "young adult readers" -- 12 to 18-year-olds. Myers’ book is appealing to both the avid, aesthetic reader as well the reluctant and efferent.


Developmental Themes and
Core Concepts of Adolescence
incorporated into Myers’ Monster


Adolescent Developmental Markers:
  • Quest for Identity
  • High idealism
  • Social Role Formation
  • Introspection
  • Desires independence while also needing support and guidance
  • Testing boundaries of authority
  • Highly charged emotionalism and intensity
  • Peers become paramount; move in packs
  • Joy and heartbreak of evolving love and friendships
  • High visual and audio acuity






Core Concepts of Adolescence:
  • Identity Development
  • Self-centeredness; Self-consciousness;
    Sensitivity to criticism
  • Liminality (“Between-ness”)
  • Highly charged emotionalism and intensity
  • Physical awkwardness / loss of control
  • Sense of isolation and/or being an "outcast"
  • Acute awareness of the social world and one’s place within it
  • Pain and struggle, and a developing resilience
  • Raw vulnerability in facing the world
    and its relationship in a very different way
  • Loss of Innocence
  • Independence and responsibility
  • Greater emphasis on action and personal experience
  • Developing a "moral compass"


We all have our own personal opinions, but those likes and dislikes must be checked against the opinions of others in a position to know what they're talking about. 

Literary critics, book reviewers and education specialists universally agree that Walter Dean Myers' novel, Monster, is not just a great read from an important YAL author -- it is a landmark achievement that all other books in the category must now be measured against.

Monster won the inaugural Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Literature for Young Adults. Few novels have so thoroughly dominated YAL competitions throughout the nation.

The New York Times Book Review called Monster, "Chilling and engrossing." Praise from the Boston Globe included: "The sheer authenticity of the novel and its presentation are disquieting -- and totally riveting" Bulletin Magazine announced:"The drama and ethical questions raised will keep the audience not just reading but thinking."

Publisher’s Weekly cited the novel’s ground-breaking literary accomplishment noting that, “Myers bends the novel form for this riveting courtroom drama” and that the author, “masterfully conveys the complexity of Steve's character by presenting numerous angles of his personality.”

Walter Dean Myers is a tremendous YAL role model for the Metro Prize committee to honor because the African American author’s books are consistently of the very highest quality. 
  
Proclaiming that "Myers is arguably one of the most important writers of children's books of our age," Kirkus Reviews heralded the book and its power to provoke thought in young people:


Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence. 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' 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.


Want to confirm an opinion of what book is best? Ask those whose business it is to know:



Michael L. Printz Award

ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Booklist Editors' Choice

ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

Notable Children's Book, The New York Times

Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award

Booksense 76 list

Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book

L.A. Times Book Award nominee

National Book Award finalist

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book

Edgar Allan Poe Award nominee, Best Young Adult

Kentucky State Award Nominee

BCCB Blue Ribbon (Center for Children's Books)

Heartland Award for Excellence in YA Literature Finalist

"Fanfare:" The Horn Book Honor List

New York Times Notable Book of the Year

PW Best Books of the Year

Riverbank Review Children's Book of Distinction

Parent's Guide to Children's Media Outstanding Achievement Award







Walter Dean Myers:

Anyway . . . I wrote well in high school and a teacher (bless her!) recognized this and also knew I was going to drop out. She advised me to keep on writing no matter what happened to me.

"It's what you do," she said.

I didn't know exactly what that meant but, years later, working on a construction job in New York, I remembered her words. I began writing at night and eventually began writing about the most difficult period of my own life, the teen years. That's what I do.



Books matter.

Books save lives. I can certainly testify that books changed my life.  So I rejoice in literature, young adult literature (YAL) in particular. I personally know how potentially powerful books can be. I celebrate books! And I celebrate this opportunity to define a Best Book.

What makes a Best Book? Whatever book you best connect with is a Best Book – for you. However, as Metro Prize committee members, we have a larger literary mission, a broader mandate and a far more important purpose. We are not just picking the funnest book we happened to have come across this summer. We are saving lives. 



Young People Matter.


Doctor . . . ? What medical treatment, operation or therapy is the most important to saving or substantially improving the lives of people between the ages of 12 and 18? Considering the ailments, sicknesses, diseases and conditions teenagers typically confront – which one treatment would you say stands out as having the most impact on the greatest amount of young adults?

In order to properly address such a wide-ranging question, a physician would have to first assess the adolescent population’s most common and most devastating conditions – then review the applicable practices to determine a Best Treatment.  “Best” is not just the medical invention that is most effectual, but the one that is most efficacious – that is to say, most efficient in a holistic situational analysis.

In our life-saving field of operation, this determining process translates as adolescent development markers and literary merit. Accordingly, we must consider literary worth as it applies specifically to YAL and its intended reader's real world concerns.



The Metro YAL Prize Matters.

 We are the first responders in what I am sure most of us would agree is a crisis. Many teens couldn’t read a book, even if they wanted to. A majority of those who can decode words on a page, cannot comprehend and connect to what they’re reading. Interestingly, these are the same illiterate, alliterate teens that memorize complex rap lyrics, surf the internet for hours, and produce more text in a year than Dostoevsky put out in a lifetime.

So teens are not the problem. We are. We have failed to deliver the literary life-saving devices that are critical to adolescents. We know books work! Yes, movies are fun and TV is great – but they are not at all the same type of empowerment and healing tool that is the quality YA book. With this inaugural Metro Prize, we have an opportunity to celebrate books in a big way! We are sending a message that recognizes what we care about:

We recognize the specialness of adolescence. We recognize the necessity for great literature. We recognize the work of YAL that most efficaciously empowers young people.


In the midst of radical change, literary emergency and teen crisis, I submit the Best Book is Monster by Walter Dean Myers. I have elsewhere argued the novel's singular developmental and literary achievement. Please give this work your serious consideration. I appeal to you, not just as “mock” Printz book award committee members, but as Metropolitan State University’s proudly developing librarians, educators, youth workers, writers – I appeal to you as the community’s first responders – in the middle of this crisis, send a message that very clearly states what and who we care about.



 
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