“The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll write it down in the notebook they let me keep. I’ll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. MONSTER.” Steve is a small, skinny black boy who is going on trial for possible murder which could keep him in jail forever or even get him killed. Steve needs to figure out a way to persuade the jury his way and try to sound as if he is not guilty, but is that really the case? Walter Dean Myers’ courageous and tenacious, movie-script novel is filled with mystery, crime fiction, drama; and is an intense journey. Monster is a realistic fiction book because it is definitely something that really could happen, but hasn’t. Myers did a really good job of staying in first person the whole time and staying with a movie-script type of style throughout the whole book.

Monster is written from Steve’s perspective and it really helps me get to know a lot about him and feel what he feels, and even be able to sympathize with him. Steve is a dynamic character so you will get to learn a lot about him, and there will be a lot of action that is based around Steve, so there is never a boring part in the book. There are two conflicts because Steve has to fight with himself and his emotions when he is stuck in jail, while also fighting against everyone at court, so the final guilty or not guilty decision is on his side. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I think that you will, too, especially if you like mystery and crime related novels. I recommend this book for ages 13+ because there are some mature words and crime related ideas. I think that this triple-award winning book is a very good read and I totally recommend it.