Center for Teaching & Learning

 I have seen movies of prisons but never one like this. This is not a movie about bars and locked doors. It is about being alone when you are not really alone and about being scared all the time.

Sixteen-year-old black teen Steve Harmon is on Death Row for a crime he didn’t commit, because he was in the wrong place when the crime was committed.

This exciting story about a stereotyped boy will leave the readers on their feet, anxious to read more about his story behind bars, and his story of trying to plead not guilty. This book tells the story of a simple black teen in a poor neighborhood trying to find his way through being misunderstood by every person in his town, including his own family.

This novel was nominated for the 1999 National Book Award for young people’s literature. It won the Michael L. Printz award in 2000 and, in the same year, was named as a Coretta Scott King award winner, as well.

Myers wrote his masterpiece as a screenplay, because Steve’s life long dream has been to be a movie producer. Myers devloped the screenplay as Steve’s perspective because writing it is the only thing that keeps Steve Harmon less anxious while in jail. This means that the book isn’t just the normal novel of the main character’s perspective. Instead it is the protagonist’s screenplay. This made the book a quick read because it was like a movie script rather than a regular book.

This novel tells a story of racism, gangs, drugs, prison, and misunderstanding, which fits Steve Harmon’s situation. Steve evolves through the book—with identity crises, mild depression, anxiety, and in the end, a better outlook. He gets to think about his life from a whole different perspective since he is on Death Row, and he didn’t think he would be living it much longer, which I thought was really interesting.

If you like books about the misunderstanding and injustice that can come from prejudice like Monster by Walter Dean Myers, you might also like The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas or All American Boys by Brendan Keily and Jason Reynolds. Similarly if you’re read and liked these books, I’d encourage you to give Monster a try.

If you like reading screenplay formatting, and thinking about big ideas like misunderstood crimes, prejudice, and judgment because of a race this is a good book for you. I rated this book a ten out of ten and recommend this book to anyone who is eleven or older.

OWEN

HarperCollins, 281 pages