Walter Dean Myers
1) Monster
2) Tags
From Walter Dean Myers, the New York Times bestselling author of Monster, comes this 20-page one-act play. Tags is a look at life and death in New York City, complete with a shocking end.
Four New York City teens are shot down in the prime of life. They move through limbo, re-creating their distinctive tags in a Harlem walk-up so that they can "live" forever. But what's the point? How can you think of living forever if you're already
...3) Slam!
4) Street Love
This groundbreaking novel in verse from Walter Dean Myers—two-time Newbery Honor winner and five-time Coretta Scott King Award winner—is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story set in Harlem. Share this one with readers taken with books by Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, and Elizabeth Acevedo.
Whether read at home or in the classroom, and alongside the original inspiration or on its own. Street Love is sure to spark opinions
...5) Riot
6) Invasion
Young heroes decide that they are not too young or too powerless to change their world in this gripping, futuristic young adult novel by the New York Times bestselling author of the Printz Award–winning Monster.
It is 2035. Teens, armed only with...
10) Pirate
Abdullah Syed Hari is fourteen years old. He loves his family and his friends. And he is a Somali pirate. A short story from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.
11) Crystal
14) Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is a young adult novel about seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the Army when unable to afford college and is sent to fight in the Vietnam War. Perry and his platoon—Peewee, Lobel, Johnson, and Brunner—come face-to-face with the Vietcong, the harsh realities of war, and some dark truths about themselves. A thoughtful young man with a gift for writing and love of basketball,
...In the groundbreaking tradition of his award-winning Monster and Bad Boy: A Memoir, Walter Dean Myers fashions a highly readable, powerful novel about the rules for success for young men, especially those navigating coming of age while Black.
Share this book in the classroom, in a father-son reading group, or as a summer reading (or anytime) choice that's likely to spark conversation and be a favorite.
"When the proprietor
...From his childhood in the segregated South to his final fight with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali never backed down. He was banned from boxing during his prime because he refused to fight in Vietnam. He became a symbol of the antiwar movement—and a defender of civil rights. As "The Greatest," he was a
...17) The Dream Bearer
19) Scorpions
Twelve-year-old Jamal is in trouble at home, at school, and on the street. His big brother, the leader of the Harlem Scorpions, is in jail for robbery. Now Jamal is expected to lead the gang and even has to carry a gun. When two of the Scorpions call him out to the park to challenge his leadership, Jamal takes the gun with him—a decision that will change his life forever. Scorpions is a powerful portrayal of the fear, frustration, and despair
...20) Blues Journey
The opening line of this call and response style verse asks the question that forms the thread throughout – Blues, what you mean to me? In a magnificent collaboration of words, art, and song, a timeline of the blues is presented in a soulful reading and dramatic musical accompaniment that offers a compelling evocation of the blues experience.