Monster by Walter Dean Myers

http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Walter-Dean-Myers

Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is in jail on trial for the robbery and murder of a drugstore owner in Harlem, a part of New York that has a high crime rate. The prosecutor deems Steve as a “Monster” because of the events that took place on December 22 at the drug store. The prosecutor has built a case that she feels that she can win. Steve feels that his attorney does not believe him that he is just another case for her. Steve knows and believes in his innocence.

The reader can relate to Steve all throughout the trial. His fears of being in jail, his belief in his innocence, and the worry about if he will be spending the next 25 years to life in jail for something he knows that he did not do.

Walter Dean Myers did not write Monster in a typical novel fashion. He wrote this story like a screenplay being told my Steve Harmon. It was an interesting way to read the story. Monster was a not a bad book, but there were parts that were hard to get through just because it was kind of dry.

A social studies lesson could be taught with the novel Monster. Most of the book takes place in the courtroom for Steve’s trial. The students could determine if Steve was given a fair trial. You could even have a mock trial about Steve’s innocence.

For a writing aspect, you could have the students write closing arguments for one of the lawyers based on how the students interpreted the story.

Students could analyze the characters in Monster to determine who the true monsters in the story are.