Trial

Monster. 0060280786. Walter Dean Meyers. Christopher Myers. 1999. Coretta Scott King Award & Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence. Age 14-15. African American Working Class.

Steve is facing life in prison for felony murder. He is only 16 years old and is struggling to cope with the reality of his situation. He decides to write down everything that is going on as a movie script to help him keep his composure and deal with his circumstance.

Steve is on trial for going into a drugstore and coming out with the all clear signal. The two people that went in to rob the store, killed the owner during the hold up and left. During the trial Steve is not getting a good feeling from his lawyer, Kathy O'Brien. She makes it sound as if the trial is not going well for him and Steve doesn't believe O'Brien thinks he is innocent.

Steve finally makes it to the end of the trial and is found not guilty. He goes back home and begins to make videos of himself to help find himself. He knows his family doesn't seem to know him anymore and his lawyer made him wonder how she saw him.

In the classroom, this book is good for learning about right and wrong and truth and lying. Throughout Steve's story, he spoke of right and wrong and truth and lying. He questioned himself if he knew what the difference was anymore and towards the end he said he does know. Steve also said he would tell Jerry, his younger brother, to think of his tomorrow. I would take this and use it in writing. I would have the students think about what they would tell their younger sibling and write a letter. I would want them to actually make it to a younger sibling, so if they didn't have one I would ask them to think of someone younger and write it to them. Another way to use this book is to get into discussions about how the trial system works. An activity could be to have a trial with the students.

Critique:
The characters were very real in my mind. I actually had to go look in the beginning of the book to see if it was fiction or non fiction because I felt like I was reading someone's true story. There was plenty of interaction with other characters and it was pretty intense at times. Steve seemed to be on trial for something he didn't do so I was anxious to see if he was found guilty or not guilty. Steve was very honest about his feelings and what he was thinking while he was in his cell or speaking to his lawyer or family. He made it very clear he was afraid of what was going on and he would rather have it be a true movie instead of his life. Steve's character made it okay for men to be afraid. Many times men will not show their feelings and I think this book is great for young adult males to see that it is okay to be afraid and not be the tough guy.

The story could not take place anywhere else but in prison. It gives the story a more true feeling of what is going on. He is in prison and is dealing with the scary things that go on in prison and then when he gets out, it is only to the courtroom and he is dealing with an even scarier thing; loosing his life to live behind bars. The main message I took from this story is right and wrong. Steve is facing life behind bars because of the potential of doing something wrong. He has to figure out in his mind as well what is right and wrong and decide if he knows the difference.

The format of this book is different because it is written as a movie script. When I got used to reading it in that format, I was able to follow. The only thing that really was difficult for me was the acronyms used. I couldn't remember what anything meant exept for VO (Voice Over). That was frustrating.