Bad Boy: A Memoir [Paperback]

Walter Dean Myers (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 7, 2002

In his own words...

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Myers paints a fascinating picture of his childhood growing up in Harlem in the 1940s, with an adult's benefit of hindsight, wrote PW. What emerges is a clear sense of how one young man's gifts separate him from his peers, causing him to stir up trouble in order to belong. Ages 13-up. (May)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-This superb memoir begins simply with an account of Myers's family history and his boyhood. Vivid detail makes the Harlem of the '40s come alive, from the music and children's games to the everyday struggle for survival. As Myers grows older, however, his story also grows in complexity. Soon readers are caught up in his turbulent adolescence and his slow, painful development as a writer. Even while performing poorly in school, the teen endlessly devoured great works of literature, often in secret. He also wrote, sometimes quitting out of discouragement but always beginning again. Eventually he attended school less and less often, sometimes fighting roaming gang members or delivering "packages" for drug dealers. After dropping out of high school, he enlisted in the army. Sadness and bewilderment infuse these last chapters as Myers faces a bleak future. Intellectually, he's left his family and friends far behind, but his race and circumstances seem to give him few choices. After years of menial jobs, Myers remembered a teacher's advice-"Whatever you do, don't stop writing"-and in time his persistence paid off. This memoir is never preachy; instead, it is a story full of funny anecdotes, lofty ideals, and tender moments. The author's growing awareness of racism and of his own identity as a black man make up one of the most interesting threads. Young writers will find inspiration here, while others may read the book as a straightforward account of a colorful, unforgettable childhood.
Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Amistad; Reprint edition (May 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064472884
• ISBN-13: 978-0064472883
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 7.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (149 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Walter Dean Myers is a New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author who has garnered much respect and admiration for his fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for young people. Winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award, he is considered one of the preeminent writers for children. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his family.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A child's life in 1940's Harlem July 19, 2001

By Eileen Galen

Format:Hardcover

This is a straightforward and workmanlike autobiography by a prolific writer of works for young readers, and is probably best for kids as young as eight through young teens. Myers' voice is calm and reflective. He has looked back on the vanished world of his 1940's and 50's Harlem childhood and adolescence with a deceptive calmness, and a pleasing recall of detail. School, friends, teachers, family life, community life, and (not insignificantly to Myers, a voracious reader) the covers and contents of pulp novels and magazines, as seen through a child's eyes - are all here.

Some of the more disturbing facts of his young life are reported on in a deadpan manner that at first seems almost flat. In one emblematic incident, a well-meaning teacher asks him his career plans, and upon hearing that Myers hopes to become a lawyer, flat-out tells him he can't, since he has a speech defect.

Myers made trouble, and he matter-of-factly tells why. Kids will appreciate his thoughtful explanations and self-understanding. But Myers was also a reader - not just for escape, but for the love of literature- and he lets us in that that process (and its consequences to his social life), too.

The chapters "Bad Boy," "I Am Not the Center of the Universe," and "Stuyvesant High" are particularly useful for their descriptions of important and formative experiences.

This is a story that is told humbly. It lacks melodrama not because Myers' early life was dull, but because Myers is a quiet writer; he trusts himself and his legions of young readers. He invites them in this quiet memoir to enter his quite remarkable experiences - and to form their own opinions. I enjoyed this sensitive (but not humorless) story very much, and came away with renewed interest and respect for its author.

Completely worthwhile.

31 of 39 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing July 1, 2001

By Marcy L. Thompson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a huge Olivia Goldsmith fan. I reread _First_Wives_Club_ from time to time, and I adore _Bestseller_. I even keep copies of her lesser works around, on the theory that there will be another long winter night when I need some high-quality mind-candy to keep me company in front of the fire. This book, however, went to the used bookstore as soon as I finished it. And even finishing it was a struggle.

What's wrong with this book? A better question would be what's right about this book, and the answer to that is "not much". Basically, the writing style is fluent and the first 70 pages are enjoyable. My specific quibbles with the book are:

-- shoddy research: you cannot fly from Tacoma to Seattle, since the Seattle-Tacoma International airport serves Seattle AND Tacoma

-- more shoddy research: people in Seattle talk about locations in it by neighborhood name, not by intersection

-- more shoddy research: the Mother's Day journey Jon undertakes is almost certainly not possible on a bicycle

-- more shoddy research: Jon's experience at a high tech powerhouse is unlike anyone's experience at any high tech powerhouse I have ever worked at, heard about from employees, or can imagine

-- still more shoddy research: what kind of newspaper reporter gets to work regular hours, let alone never be at work? what kind of full-time newspaper writer produces only four or five fluff pieces in a several-month period?

(All this shoddy research makes me wonder why she bothered to set a book in a location and setting she knew nothing about.)

More things that are wrong with this book:

-- stupid plotlines, unresolved issues and weird digressions

-- unlikable, unbelievable, unrealistic characters

-- a foreshortened ending, which was entirely unsatisfying and unbelievable

(All of which makes me wonder why she wrote it so fast, so short, and so poorly.)

I'm sorry I bothered to finish the book. I only did so because I just couldn't bring myself to believe that Olivia Goldsmith could write such a bad book. But she could, and she did. I will be buying her next book in paperback. I hope it's better than this one.

26 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A VERY FUNNY NOVEL! January 6, 2001

By Nick G

Format:Hardcover

Tracie Higgins is a writer in a dead-end relationship with a musician. Jon is a work-aholic who can't get ANY KIND OF relationship. These two young people are good friends, and every Sunday night thet get together for coffee, and to talk about their problems.

Jon gets an idea, he can have Tracie transform him into a heartbreaker, the kind of guy women fall all over. At first Tracie thinks the idea is silly, but she does agree to help her friend. What ensues is a hysterical journey of expensive haircuts, the latest fashions, and very bad pick-ups ( the airport scene being one of the funniest).

As the two continue with the scheme, they realize they both MAY have found the right person...in each other.

"Bad Boy" is another funny read from Olivia Goldsmith. Ms. Goldsmith has the knack of churning out fresh, funny, and totally un-putdownable novels.

Readers will undoubtly root for true love to prevail, once they have caught their breath from laughing so hard.

Nick Gonnella