Customer Reviews

Riot

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Intent to increase the size of the Union Army, in 1963 President Abraham Lincoln signed the first conscription act in U.S. history, authorizing the draft of all able-bodied young men into the Army. With a loophole that allowed wealthier men to avoid being drafted by paying a $300 fee, the conscription act infuriated members of the working class. In New York City, large numbers of men and some women, predominantly Irish, took to the streets and channeled their anger into looting and violence. Their violence targeted not only the upper class, but also African Americans who the Irish resented for stealing scarce jobs through their willingness to work for lower wages. The riots, which resulted in widespread destruction and brutal attacks, required military intervention before ending after four terrifying days.

Caught in the middle of these very real events are a series of fictional characters struggling to come to terms with the charged racial relations. Claire, a biracial fifteen-year-old girl, braves the violence on the streets to help her black father save a group of young orphans from the mobs bent on destroying the New York Colored Orphan Asylum. In the process she joins her best friend Priscilla, who is black, in helping the children and also in trying to find Priscilla's frail old aunt. In taking these risky actions during the height of the violence rather than stay at home, Claire tries to define her racial identity and help the people she loves.

This novel brings to life the 1963 New York Draft Riots for readers who may be less familiar with the nature of the violence and the hostile race relations. The plot highlights the role of economic principles, especially competition for jobs and racial discrimination, in serving as key triggers of the riots. Middle-grade readers raised on texting and instant messaging are likely to appreciate the screenplay format with brief scene directions and fast-paced dialogue.

RIOT by Walter Dean Myers tells the story of the beginning of the Civil War, and the 1863 insurgency in New York City.

President Lincoln had started a draft to gain more soldiers for the Union Army, but there was a clause in the law that allowed the wealthy to pay a three-hundred dollar fee and hire someone else to go to war in their place. In New York City, tempers exploded into a vicious race riot.

Claire is the daughter of a mixed family. Her mother is Irish and her father is black. She has been secure in her identity, but now everything is different. Black Americans are being murdered and beaten, and even a foundling home is looted and burned as the uprising turns into one of the worst race riots in American history.

The streets and Claire's neighborhood are no longer safe. And then the soldiers that are called back from Gettysburg to settle the dispute are equally brutal.

Claire is considered all black by people she considered friends and they are turning against her for that reason. She begins to question her identity. Great characters and a fast-moving plot kept me glued to the pages.

Myers has written this story in the form of a screenplay in an untraditional book, with an unblinking look at racial relations during that time period. It gave an immediacy to the action that most novel forms would not have been able to achieve. It is a very entertaining story, and I painlessly learned a lesson in American history.

Reviewed by: Grandma Bev

The screenplay format of this historical novel took me a little while to warm up to, but once I got to know the characters, I found this to be a fascinating and compelling story of the New York draft riots during the Civil War. The characters were believable in their language and depictions, and the way characters from different social groups interacted with one another really shed light on the biases and fears of this time period. This will be a great resource for teachers, who should find lots of opportunities for student dramatizations and other activities in the format of this book. The format, with plenty of white space and lots of action, will make it a great pick for reluctant readers, too.

I just finished listening to Riot by Walter Dean Myers. I chose to read this Young Adult (YA) novel as part of a graduate class with the only restriction being a book by WD Myers. At first, three different books by him peaked my interests, Sunrise over Fallujah, Fallen Angels and Riot. They are all books about the experience of African-Americans within the constructs of the US military. I chose Riot because it is about a little known event in NYC during the Civil War. Also, I'm a Civil War buff too.

First, the audio version was much better than reading the novel. WD Myers chooses to write the story in the form of a screenplay. As a result the connective narrative between exchanges of dialog, tends to be too much detail and caused me to disengage from the story. During the interview at the end of the audio-book he does explain that this was intentional since he wanted to show the visual changes of the city. Since the audio-book offers a full voiced cast for all characters, including the narrator, the story is much easier to follow and visualize. In addition to the story three extras are given, a Voiced timeline of events leading up to the Draft Riots, WD Myers reads his author's notes, and an interview with WD Myers that is about twenty minutes. The interview is worth listening to but the timeline and author's notes add very little.

The story is well written and rich in the issues of the draft riots. The actions of the story take place during the middle of the draft riots after the Union Army arrives to put down the riot itself. Claire the main protagonist, has an Irish mother and a Black father who own the Peacock, a pub near the Five Points. By creating a main character that is both Black and Irish, we see the quandary of the riots themselves. It was not completely racial but more socioeconomic. For most of the story, Claire is slightly flat and one dimensional but gains some depth and development after the witnessing the mugging/attacks that happen near her home. If the story were written in conventional form or epistolaries, Claire would make for a good choice as narrator and may actually make her stronger.

The end result is that students learn some of the constructs of the actual riot, but due to the structure of the writing, many may find the narrative difficult to follow and not rewarding. Given the struggle and violence that Claire is exposed to, she gains little and has some reflective thought on being a minority in a post slavery America. She has a wonderful line after the end of the second day of the novel, third day of the riots, "If only I could remove my skin and place it in a drawer until I can be see for more than what I am." Walter Dean Myers is echoing some of Paul L Dunbar and Langston Hughes poetry on the Black Experience in NYC. However, this is lost in conclusion of the story and is wiped over by narrative ramblings of the characters who survived the violence.

Overall, worth listening to in class but don't read it. Would be a great daily activity during a middle school Civil War unit. Twenty-five minutes a day and your done six days.

"Learn something new every day" is a favorite expression of my dad's and, I have to say that by reading RIOT, I certainly did learn something new. While I was aware of the terrible poverty, especially of the Irish immigrants and the newly-freed African Americans; the huge class divisions between the haves and have-nots; and the deep-seated bigotry and racism that ran rampant around the time of the Civil War (and, unfortunately, for years after), I didn't know about the race riots that erupted over the draft (I have since remedied this hole in my education).

The story itself is written in screenplay format with a multitude of characters who come from all backgrounds, providing readers with a variety of perspectives. The main character, Claire, is stuck right in the middle--not too rich, not too poor; a black father and a white mother; and both black friends and Irish friends. Having never faced true adversity, she's never really had to define her beliefs or face her background and roots. Until the riots. The focus on dialogue creates an immediacy that puts the reader right in the middle of the action and allows a glimpse into the minds of variety of characters. The format of the story, without the detailed descriptions found in a traditional novel, makes the actions of the people involved all the more powerful and urgent.

I'm always for on the lookout for amazing historical novels that will keep my students' attention while immersing them in past. RIOT by Walter Dean Myers does just that. In fact, as soon as I finished reading it, I ran it right over to my social studies teacher so I could share it with her. It's exactly the type of historical novel students can truly benefit from--and enjoy.

It's the summer of 1863 in New York City. The Civil War is well underway, dividing not only the nation but its people. A federally instituted draft only incites the brewing conflict faster. Angry Irish immigrants flood the streets, looting stories and attacking blacks whom they blame for many of their problems. The army has been brought in to put the riots down, but violence still abounds. Caught in the midst of this, fifteen-year-old Claire is confronted with the difficulty of having both Irish and African American heritage. In a situation with very little middle ground, which side will Claire choose?

Riot is a novel with an interesting topic but a less than thrilling execution. This novel is written in the style of a screenplay, which is unique but a little odd considering I don't believe it's supposed to be one. Because of this strict format which only allows for scene descriptions, character actions, different "camera" angles, and dialogue, I found it very difficult to get into the story. Another negative side effect of this structure is that there is little if any direct characterization, and readers must glean what they can about characters based on mainly events, actions, and dialogue. I personally found it hard to fully understand many of the characters because I didn't know that they were thinking, which the rare soliloquy did little to remedy. If it weren't for this story, I think I might've been more into the story since the Civil War and race relations are fascinating and important parts of American history. For what it's worth, the historical events discussed, particularly the New York City draft riots, were portrayed relatively accurately, but unfortunately, the story was just boring as a whole. Perhaps it's only the screenplay style, but Riot was just not a book for me.

Fans of historical novels just as Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher and A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly may still enjoy this stylistically untraditional novel.