10. Monster

Myers, Walter Dean.  Monster.  New York: Random House Audio Publishing Group, 2007. CD.


Annotation: 

CUT TO: STEVE HARMON.  Then: CU of the pad in front of him.  He is writing the word Monster over and over again.  A white hand (O’BRIEN’s) takes the pencil from his hand and crosses out all the Monsters.

O’BRIEN (whispering) -- “You have to believe in yourself if we’re going to convince a jury that you’re innocent.”

Justification for Nomination:

Monster reads like a screenplay and is written from Steve Harmon’s perspective.  Steve is a 16-year-old on trial for being an accomplice to a murder.   His love of film aids him as he decides to tell his story through how he sees things -- of his experience of being on trial for something he did not do and fighting to not become the monster the prosecutor is making him out to be.  Steve is terrified of prison changing him and turning him into a monster.   In the short time he’s been in prison, he feels as if he’s already losing touch with himself.  He doesn’t recognize himself when he peers in the mirror.   

Monster absolutely deserves a nomination for the METRO award based on meeting so many of the qualifications needed to live up to YA literature.  Over and over, Steve is questioning his identity and trying to figure out his young life – will he spend his adolescence in prison, or will he get a second chance at living his life?  Steve’s emotions run the gamut – from being horrified and indifferent at some of the prisoners’ behavior, to being scared and alone in his cell, to being scared and alone in the courtroom where he feels he’s watching these people play out the scene, sometimes disconnecting himself from the courtroom altogether.  Steve is an extremely likeable, relatable, and authentic character.  I was rooting for Steve that he would be found innocent.  Because of Walter Dean Myers’ exceptional character development, I was able to become emotionally attached to Steve and wanted him to succeed.  Steve may have had some questionable characters as friends, but he was never a bad kid.  In fact, he was a good student, was a part of the film club, and he had two parents who loved him. 

I must say, it was pure entertainment to be able to listen to this story played out on audio.  Since the plotline itself reads somewhat like a courtroom drama, with some of Steve’s thoughts interwoven in between scenes, listening to the story played out with different voices for different characters made the story itself less drawn out or tedious having to read all the dramatic cues, such as “Cut to” or “Zoom in.”  I think I appreciated the book so much more through audio than I may have reading it in book-form.

Genre Category: Realistic/Edgy, Multicultural, 2000 Michael L. Printz Award Winner