Monster

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Monster

I reread Monster for a grad. class I'm taking this summer. It won the very first Printz Award in 2000, along with a Coretta Scott King Author Honor and was a 1999 National Book Award finalist.

Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon deals with his anxiety over his arrest, imprisonment and upcoming trial by writing the script to a movie depicting his nightmare. The DA is calling him and his co-defendant "monsters." He sees himself as just a teenage kid, who's really into films and filmmaking and who loves his family, trying to get by. The book is a combination journal/ screenplay complete with camera directions.

Steve stands accused of participating in a botched robbery that resulted in the death of the storeowner. Steve's alleged role was a sort of lookout. He was supposed to have checked the store to be sure there were no police or customers present. Steve's narration through his screen play is at times ambiguous and one begins to wonder if he is a reliable narrator. The state's case is based primarily on the testimony of admitted criminals who have copped plea deals. A witness has placed Steve's co-defendant at the scened, but she is reluctant to implicate a black man. The cousin of his co-defendant has provided an alibi, Steve's film teacher testifies as a character witness and Steve testifies on his own behalf.

The story is bound to spark lots of discussions about justice, tolerance, and racism. Its journal/ screenplay format is bound to attract reluctant readers.

281 pages                         978-0064407311                                   Ages 13-16

Recommended by: Brenda Kahn, Librarian, New Jersey, USA

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Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial. At question is the issue of whether or not he was an accomplice to a robbery by going into a corner store to see if "the coast was clear"? If he did, then he is an accessory to a murder. The story unfolds as a movie script, and we see Steve in jail and get the sense of who he is and what his life has been like. Then we have the chance to give a verdict on the crime he may have committed. This book was the recipient of the 2000 Coretta Scott King Honor Book award, the 2000 Michael L. Printz award for young adult literature, and was the 1999 National Book Award Finalist winner.---from the publisher

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