Book Review: Bad Boy

Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers

BEST QUOTE: "My response to my problems was to immerse myself in literature. Books are often touted by librarians as vehicles to carry you far away. I most often saw them as a way of hiding one self inside the other. What I had to hide was the self who was a reader, who loved poetry." (page 126)

SUMMARY: As a boy, Walter Dean Myers was quick--tempered and physically strong, always ready for a fight. He also read voraciously--he would check out books from the library and carry them home, hidden in brown paper bags in order to avoid other boys' teasing. He aspired to be a writer. But growing up in a poor family in Harlem, he began to doubt himself and the values that he had always relied on, attending high school less and less, turning to the streets and his books for comfort. This autobiography is a interesting window into Harlem as it was the 1940s and 50s.

OPINION: Walter Dean Myers is one of the most famous YA writers, not even counting the fact that he is one of a few people writing convincingly about young black men. If you have not read his books, look for Monster, Shooter, Hoops, or Scorpions next time you are in the Teen Corner.