Monster
14 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: 2000 Michael L. Printz Award Winner, crime, juvenile deliquency, prison
Monster by Walter Dean Meyers
Published by Amistad, New York: 1999
281 pgs
Recommended reading age: 13 and up
VOYA rating: 5P, 4P, JS
Steve Harmon is in juvenile prison for a crime he may or may not have committed. Basically Steve has been tried for serving as an accomplice to a robbery of a drug store. Steve is asked by a local group of guys in the neighborhood to participate in the robbery by serving as the look-out. The robbery goes down and in a heated moment one of the young robbers loses his cool and shoots the store owner down in cold blood. Steve, along with the other boys involved in the crime, are all taken into custody and charged. Steve then has to go to trial for murder even though he didn’t commit one. Whether or not Steve actually was there as look-out on the night of the crime is another story but even if he was there, Steve clearly seems to feel he did not aid in the murder or robbery directly.
That is not to say that Steve doesn’t seem to indicate a certain amount of remorse as the narrator because he does seem to feel remorse. You really get inside his head and get to hear his fears and feelings as he sits in his cell dreading what will happen to him in the future. You can tell that he is sorry for what has happened which seems to indicate guilt but you never get any actual proof.
This is a very uniquely written book that is written through Steve’s perspective. You learn the story through his journal entries that he writes while in lock-up as well as through the movie script that he is writing of his life. Since we only get Steve’s side of the story, as told through a series of flashbacks between before the robber and present time, the story is a little skewed. All we know by the end of the book is whether or not the jury finds Steve guilty. The reader never really hears specifically what exactly he does on the night of the robbery. You only see the events leading up to the crime and the exchanges between Steve and the other gang of kids planning the heist. You also get to see some pictures within the book including a mug shot for Steve which also is used for the cover art.
Steve may not have been the robber with the gun but if he truly was a look-out in this crime then he just might be partly responsible for the shop owner’s death. But is he really guilty? The flashbacks that Steve gives seem to point to the fact that he did serve as look-out but that he didn’t shoot anyone. If Steve was really there, then why didn’t he tell the robbers that the store wasn’t clear? Why would he purposely lie about this? Perhaps he just chickened out and ran away so the robbers went ahead assuming that Steve had given the “all clear” sign. You just never quite know for certain. This is something that Steve never comes right out and says so this truth is left up for debate.
I thought the style and format of this book was very interesting. I think a reluctant reader might like this written in script form because it feels a bit more like a movie. It also varies between script form and journal entries so it doesn’t get too boring. It keeps the reader on their toes but creates a movie-type narrative which is engaging and appealing for teens. It is semi-nonlinear so some reluctant readers may have trouble with that since the story bounces around in time and describes certain events very ambiguously. The book is about crime and punishment but doesn’t get too detailed in the descriptions about violence. Language is only mildly harsh. Overall, it wouldn’t be all that inappropriate for younger tween readers, but it might be too serious or boring for them to take much interest in it unless they are use to reading at a higher level.
The cover is a striking jumpsuit-orange that grabs the attention of the reader. It shows a close-up mug shot of Steve. Between the grainy black photo of Steve and the orange cover it feels reminiscent of a prisoner in his cell with his orange jumpsuit on. I don’t know that it is a particularly fancy cover but it works for the story.
No Choirboy: Murder, Violence and Teenagers on Death Row
03 Jul 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: death row, prison, Too Good to be True Nonfiction
No Choirboy: Murder, Violence and Teenagers on Death Row by Susan Kuklin
Published by Henry Holt, New York NY, 2008
224 pages
Recommended age: 14 and up
VOYA rating: 4P. 3Q
This nonfiction book deals with people on death row or in prison for crimes various violent crimes they committed as teens. The author tells the stories of several people who were affected by violent crimes. Her interviews include adults and young adults who were all found guilty for crimes committed while they were still in their teens but who may be in their mid twenties. The author uses the same language used by the inmates to accurately depict their stories as being told through their own words and through their perspectives. Some of the interviews were conducted through letters so the author just reprints the letters to show how they tell their own story.
For certain portions of the book she also interviews the family members of some of these inmates including the family members of one inmate who has already been executed. It is heartbreaking and at time a little hard to read the sad stories about the inmate’s lives and the life of those loved one’s left behind. You hear several different stories and in some cases, the rulings have been reversed and the death sentence has been changed. In other cases, the rulings have not been reversed and the inmates are still left on death row.
The author even interviews a few family members of victims who were killed by teens which added an interesting layer to the story. It really lets the reader into the daily life of a prison inmate and the scary reality of being on death row. It also would expose teens to legal terminology and might spark further interest in the legal system.
The main theme that seems to be running through the entire book is whether or not teens should be sentenced to death and tried harshly or as adults when they are committing crimes at such a developmentally young age. Although you get the sense that the author is trying to just present the stories and then let the reader judge for themselves she clearly has only interviewed people who feel strongly against the death penalty, mainly because they are the ones on death row. It is slightly biased, but it does bring up a very important political debate that affects some teens directly. Although the teens reading the books might not feel strongly one way or the other about their death penalty, by presenting this issue with real life people who are living this daily and who started AS teens in prison, it hits a bit closer to home. At times it was a little hard to read the language used because it wasn’t written beautifully and eloquently, but that was the point. The stories were accurately retold and in doing so, the author did not just sensationalize and use pretty words that would be more poetic or emotionally appealing. The rawness of the stories and interviews presented make this a very effective nonfiction book for teens.
The cover is striking in black and white because it actually shows one of the real prisoners discussed in the book. It shows their tattoo. I think a teen might pick up this book by the cover but I would have liked the story of the tattoo to tie-in somewhere through the course of the book. Did the tattoo have any special significance? Why was this particular shot chosen for the cover? I felt the use of various photos throughout the book were also very effective for the reader in tying a tangible face to the prisoners and victims discussed. In fiction, it is great to have the words to describe the setting or the character. In nonfiction however we were dealing with the descriptions on their life and crimes so having the black and white photos to fill in the lack of character description were helpful. It made things more relatable for both the victims and the prisoners.
I feel like this delves into some serious subject matter and would be better for older teens, ages 14 and up. I could see some schools or detnetion centers who would prefer we not booktalk this or add it to the collection. Ultimately in the case of a detention center especially, although the teens might really ENJOY and relate to this book it might be something that the administration would prefer you not explose them to.
