Walter Dean Myers is the author of many highly acclaimed books, including Scorpions, a 1989 Newbery Honor Book;
Now Is Your Time: The African-American Struggle for Freedom, winner of the 1992 Coretta Scott King Author Award;
The Mouse Rap, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; and Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse. In 1994, he
received the ALA's Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. Mr. Myers lives
in New Jersey with his family.
Review
�Many of the individual scenes have power�and the author�s voice and heart are consistently heard and felt throughout.�
--The Horn Book
�Myers paints a fascinating picture of his childhood growing up in Harlem in the 1940s.�
--Publishers Weekly
�A powerful read. Will make the reader laugh out loud & sigh with satisfaction.�
--Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
�[A] superb memoir. Young writers will find inspiration here.�
--School Library Journal
�A thoughtful, cautionary and inspiring tale.�
--Chicago Tribune
�This memoir joins the ranks of stellar literary autobiographies, such as Fleischman�s Abracadabra Kid and Zindel�s
Pigman and Me.�
--Bulletin of the Center for Children�s Books
HarperCollins Web Site, May, 2002
Summary
As a boy, Walter Dean Myers was quick-tempered and physically strong, always ready for a fight. He also read
voraciously-he would check out books from the library and carry them home, hidden in brown paper bags in order
to avoid other boys' teasing. He aspired to be a writer. But growing up in a poor family in Harlem, his hope for
a successful future diminished as he came to realize fully the class and racial struggles that surrounded him.
He began to doubt himself and the values that he had always relied on, attending high school less and less, turning
to the streets and his books for comfort.
In a memoir that is gripping, funny, and ultimately unforgettable, Walter Dean Myers travels back to his roots
in the magical world of Harlem during the 1940s and 1950s. Here is the story of one of the strongest voices in
young people's literature today.
