Summary: Steve Harmon, a high school film student, is in jail and on trial for murder. He has been accused of taking part in a felony murder. He was the lookout for a drugstore robbery that went wrong and the store-owner was killed. Steve tells what happens through the trial and his incarceration in the form of a screenplay for a movie and the rest is written as journal entries. He does this as a way to deal with his stress and anxiety over the trial, with his family, all those other outside pressures being placed on him by the lawyer and his fellow inmates. He writes this screenplay all throughout with dialogue and camera shots, like close ups, flashbacks, etc. He comes from a family that had hopes for their son. They hoped he would will play football and go to Morehouse College. Instead Steve could spend the rest of his life in a jail cell for what he thinks is an “accident.”
Commentary: This book is heartbreaking. You begin to feel bad for Steve, especially because of his parents hopes and dreams for him. One the other hand you wonder what he is hiding, what he won't fess up or admit but you know how teenagers are. They don't like to take responsibility. All of his books are experiences brought from his life. I think there a quite a few teenagers who will see themselves in these characters. Every though they are in a extremely tough situation, I would hope that teenagers could learn from it. Your choices matter.
Connections: This book is hard to describe. Part of it is written as a screenplay and the other part of it is written as journal entries by Steve. Although it is not autobiographical, Mr. Myers weaves in a portion of his experiences into this book. I would consider this book Realistic Fiction in a journal or screenplay format.
Author's book talk about Monster.
Video interview with the author from PBS News Hour : 'Reading Is Not Optional' for Kids
Video interview with the author about second book in the series.
Book Trailer
This is a Book Talk about Monster by , one of my favorite children's author that's why I included it. She talks about crossing racial barriers and using this book as a teacher resource.
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