Product Description

BONUS FEATURE: Afterword read by the author

Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. Monster.

FADE IN: INTERIOR COURT. A guard sits at a desk behind STEVE. KATHY O’BRIEN, STEVE’s lawyer, is all business as she talks to STEVE.
O’BRIEN
Let me make sure you understand what’s going on. Both you and this King character are on trial for felony murder. Felony murder is as serious as it gets….When you’re in court, you sit there and pay attention. You let the jury know that you think the case is as serious as they do….
STEVE
You think we’re going to win?
O’BRIEN (seriously)
It probably depends on what you mean by “win.”

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46029 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-13
• Released on: 2007-02-13
• Formats: Audiobook, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 5.84" h x .55" w x 5.27" l, .23 pounds
• Binding: Audio CD

From Amazon.com
"Monster" is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner. But was Steve really the lookout who gave the "all clear" to the murderer, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time? In this innovative novel by Walter Dean Myers, the reader becomes both juror and witness during the trial of Steve's life. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker Steve chronicles the proceedings in movie script format. Interspersed throughout his screenplay are journal writings that provide insight into Steve's life before the murder and his feelings about being held in prison during the trial. "They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can't kill yourself no matter how bad it is. I guess making you live is part of the punishment."

Myers, known for the inner-city classic Motown and Didi (first published in 1984), proves with Monster that he has kept up with both the struggles and the lingo of today's teens. Steve is an adolescent caught up in the violent circumstances of an adult world--a situation most teens can relate to on some level. Readers will no doubt be attracted to the novel's handwriting-style typeface, emphasis on dialogue, and fast-paced courtroom action. By weaving together Steve's journal entries and his script, Myers has given the first-person voice a new twist and added yet another worthy volume to his already admirable body of work. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

From School Library Journal
Grade 7-12-Monster, by Walter Dean Myers (HarperCollins, 1999), was written as a first-person dramatic film script in which Steve, a 16-year-old teenager on trial for murder, recounts his arrest, experiences while in jail, and trial. This unusual story, read smoothly and efficiently by Peter Francis James, will be enjoyed by young adult listeners who will feel the courtroom drama even more emotionally through James' narration. However, his authoritative, matter-of-fact tone keeps the narration from getting maudlin. His rhythmic, steady speech is usually gentle and reassuring, but it does show anger when appropriate. James realistically recreates Steve's speech, and on occasion changes tone or pitch to differentiate characters. This audiobook will stimulate interest in the book and other novels by Meyers.
Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
What if you were 16 years old, on trial for felony murder, and your degree of guilt had become confused within your own mind? How would you discover the truth? Monster, winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, is written as the screenplay that prisoner Steve Harmon creates during his incarceration and trial, in an attempt to reconstruct and reconfigure the events of the crime. The production is recorded as a full-cast dramatization, and it's difficult to imagine how it might have been accomplished more effectively. The youth and innocence of Jeron Alston's voice, as Steve, summons the listener into his limited reality and serves as a counterpoint to the authenticity of the courtroom drama, presented through the voices of the prosecutor, the D.A., the defendants, and the witnesses. Flashbacks deliver the backstory and raise essential doubts in the mind of the listener. A superb recording of an intriguing work. T.B. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine