Won't Know Till I Get There [Paperback]

Walter Dean Myers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1988 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Fourteen-year-old Stephen, his new foster brother, his friends are sentenced to help out at an old age home for the summer after Stephen is caught writing graffiti on a train.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 177 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (April 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014032612X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140326123
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,228,800 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Won't Know Till I Get There, October 11, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Won't Know Till I Get There (Paperback)

Steve is an only child until one day his parents decide they want to adopt. They discuss it with Steve and he has no objections; he thinks it will be cool to have a little kid looking up to him and following him around. Soon Steve learns that this kid has a criminal record and is thirteen-year-old Earl Goins. Steve doesn't want to look weak or un-cool to Earl so he decides to spray-paint "Royal Visigoths" on an old train, but the whole gang gets caught and is forced to work at Micheaux House. They all learn that there is more to people then meets the eye.

I enjoyed reading this book because I haven't read anything quite like it before. It has a good life-lesson that I think everyone should know and respect. The characters are witty and sarcastic, and I think anyone in middle school would enjoy reading it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The worst Way To Spend Your Summer Or Is It?, November 26, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Won't Know Till I Get There (Paperback)

The Worst Way To Spend Your Summer Or Is It? Four young black teens from New York are caught by the police spray painting a rail road car and are sentenced to work in an old folk's home for the summer. One of the young boys has been in trouble with the law several times before but finds he has more in common with the seniors from the home than the others. They are forced to be together, none or them liking the circumstances that brought them together; however, as they get to know each other they find their lives are changed. Earl, the boy who has been in trouble before is living with Steve and Steve's parents on a trial basis but wants to have a permanent home. The book is written as if Steve Perry is writing to his journal. If you like good humor mixed with serious problems dealing with old age then you would like this book as I did.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Won't know till I get there by Walter Dean Myers, September 5, 2000

By 

Skye Smith (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Won't Know Till I Get There (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

This book is a bout an only child whose parents decide to adopt a brother for him the kid finds out that the kid is not the best of children so to impress the kid he spray paints graffiti onto the side of an old rail road car and gets caught red handed he gets a choice he goto juvinielle hall or he can work in an old folks home for a a month or 2 he of course chooses to work with the elderly and it's a wonderful tale of basically what happens to him his freinds and the old that he works with.