Realistic: "Monster"

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Myers, Walter D. Monster. NY: Harper Collins, 1999.

A young man sits in jail awaiting trial for a robbery in which a shopkeeper was killed. This is a film script of the events leading up to the trial, the trial itself, and the verdict.

The events of Steve Harmon's life have created an eddy of nightmarish possibilities for punishment of a crime. A crime he may or may not have committed. As the facts and fictions of the crime swirl through his head, he tries to calm his growing panic by recording the terrifying events of his recent life as a film script.

Steve is a good kid from a good family from a good home in a bad part of town. He has no record of prior arrests, but an array of bad characters has fingered him as the lookout for a recent robbery. A robbery-gone-bad where a shopkeeper was killed. Are the bad guys pointing at him so they can cut a deal for themselves? Or was Steve sucked into the crime with the promise of some fast cash. Is this all really nothing more than a film script? A mere figment of Steve Harmon's imagination?

Monster? You be the judge.

Booklist Editors' Choice. Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Michael L. Prinz Award. New York Times Notable Book. YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. YALSA Outstanding Books for the College Bound. YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Kentucky Bluegrass Award.