Monster

Myers, Walter Dean. (1999). Monster. New York: HarperTempest.
Myers, Walter Dean. (1999). Monster. James, Peter Francis. Audiobook on CD. Recorded Books, LLC, 2000.

Annotation: Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon tells the story of being put through a trial for a felony murder some of his acquaintances say he was a part of. Steve is a filmmaker, so tells the story as a film of his own. He also shares with us through his journaling. Will Ms. O’Brien be able to convince the jury of Steve’s innocence and spare him the 25 years to life in prison he could face?

Justification for Nomination: I actually “read” this book as an audiobook. This was such a great book to listen to. There were so many characters, and “Listening Library” did such a great job of bringing them to life. It was also really a good one because it was meant to be written like a movie, so you were meant to “see” it and I felt I could do that a lot through listening to the book.

I also picked up the print copy of the book, and it looked like it was written in a really interesting way. I think this would make the book more interesting for a teen to read, as the words on the page seem to come alive too. You can almost feel the different emotions in the different size and stress of the text.

I don’t really know, because I’ve never been there, but I felt like it gave a somewhat accurate portrayal of a courtroom and court case. Again, I think the audiobook helped me with this part. You could feel the tension, and hear everyone’s arguments and it felt for me like I was there.

I liked reading this book because I think it is one that would appeal to boys. Not a ton of the books I read this semester would necessarily be a boy’s first pick, but this one I think would be a good choice for a male adolescent.

I also liked the innocence of Steve’s character. He was real, and had a real family and real values. I’m not sure why that appealed to me. Maybe because he could have been a “monster” as it was suggested in the beginning of the book, but he really had a gentle core to him.

I think this book would be a good one for a class to read together. I also picked up the print version of this book and, at least the version I got, had some really good discussion questions in the back. I think this makes it appeal to teens and their teachers.

Genre: Audiobook/Printz/Edgy/Coming of Age