Twiggy

Twiggy has NOTHING to do with Darius and Twig.  This is another well deserved award-winning book from the late, great WDM, one of the great authors ever!

The World Lost

an amazing voice on July 1 of this year.  Walter Dean Myers went Home.  On a Clear Day comes out in September and so it will be the first Myers book published after his passing.  That sounds odd, I mean, it has to be the last one as well, right? But there is rumor that there are more Myers books out there, and that they will be published posthumously also.  I can't find where I read that, but I swear I did!
Myers once said, "I'll never live to write all the stories I have in my head."
On a Clear Day was a tough book for me.  I just couldn't really get into it.  I mean, it was well written and it was full of good stuff and thought-provoking stuff.  It is set in the near future, but man, I think that a lot of the bad guys in this book, the multi-national corporations who really run the world and run it with their bottom line as the only thing of any importance, I think that they are more real than we would dare to believe.  Yes, yes, yes, I am a big conspiracy theorist.  But I do think that money makes folks do evil things. And I do think that greed corrupts and so I found this book not to hard to believe.
I didn't really like any of the characters though, but I think that if this was going to be a series, I would have read the next one.  It was just too intriguing not to.
Ah...but now WDM is gone...so I don't think that will be happening.  But it is something I will want to ask him about for sure.

First Off...

I want to just say outright, that I feel guilty in saying that I enjoyed Sharon Flake's  You Don't Know Me, more than Every Man for Himself: ten short stories about being a guy.   I mean, Sharon Flake ISN'T a guy and the guys who wrote the stories in Every Man, well, they ARE guys!  And the guys of Every Man are seriously wonderful writers.  Mo Willems, Walter Dean Meyers, I Don't Like Fat People David Levithan, Ron Koertge, I mean these are some of my favorite writers!  Some of these stories were super great.  Walter Dean Meyers' story, for example.  No surprise there!   What I realized now is that I listened to the audiobook and therefore, didn't get to read the whole book!  Some of the content is in graphic novel form.  My local library doesn't own it, so I asked my brother, who is a librarian at a library that does own it so that he can bring it to me!  Then I will finish this review!

Cruising Along...

Oh, Snap!  is the fourth book in The Cruisers series by literary legend Walter Dean Myers.  I do love Mr. Myers and I love Zander Scott, but I am not deeply in love with this book just because I think it jumped around a lot.  There was a lot going on here.  Sometimes that is great in a book, but for me in this case, it just took a little bit of something away for me.  That said, I will continue to read this series and to love WDM.  

HarperTeen Impulse

Another short story from Harper Teen Impulse, this one by Walter Dean Myers, who as you know, can do no wrong in my eyes.  Tags was very short, but compeling.  It's set in the next life-- but not a next life like the one that we'll all be in when we get to Heaven!  It kinda reminded me of Dope Sick a little.  Good stuff.  Man.  He is good. 

Walter Dean Myers's Feminine Side

Myers has written short stories that I've read with female POVs, but this was the first full book with a female POV that I read from Myers. The guy is such a gifted author, even a book from the POV of a tree would be awesome.  Crystal is in the modeling business, still in high school, not the best student, good kid. She is feeling conflicted about the morals she is taught in church and the morals shared by many in the modeling world. A good peak into the world of show biz and its impact on the young. Recommended.

Powerful

I can't believe it has been almost 14 years since the shootings at Columbine High School.  Shooter was written a few years after that.  I love WDM and so I know I would love this book as well.  He takes the toughest subjects, the most heart-breaking stuff and puts them right in front of you.  It's like you can tell that Mr. Myers is writing from his heart.  Like whatever is on his heart, he just lays it right out there.  This book was different from a lot of his other stuff, but equally as profound. 

Walter Dean Myers

I guess Gary Paulsen, Frances O'Roark Dowell and Walter Dean Myers are for me, the authors I can always count on.  Not just because they write so much, but also because they write so well.  Handbook for Boys was my latest WDM, on audio, read by Peter Francis James.  I kinda think that if Peter Francis James read the phone book, I would listen and enjoy.  He and Eric Conger are amazing.  Handbook for Boys is set in Harlem, like many of WDM's books and takes place mostly in a barbershop, run by Duke, a cool, smart older dude who has allowed Jimmy to work for him instead of going to juvie.  The barbershop is one of those places in the neighborhood where all kinds of folks hang out, get their hair cut and reflect.  Like a third-place kinda thing.  While working for Duke Jimmy learns a lot about life and choices.  It isn't a preachy book, I don't think.  And I just loved it.  Funny in places, too.  Classic WDM.  Recommended.

Dreams

 Man.  Walter Dean Myers he is something else. The Dream Bearer is a great book for dudes and for all.  Set in Harlem, as are many of Myers's books, this tells the story of Danny who is twelve years old and growing up with a father who has mental health issues (maybe) and a brother who is experimenting with selling drugs and a man he and his best friend meet in the park who claims to be over 300 years old and a "bearer of dreams."

There is so much going on in this book and so much to talk about:  gentrification, racism, becoming a US citizen, drugs, father-son stuff, becoming a man stuff.  It is all so well done and causes the reader to really think, see things in a different light and question the status quo.  Man I enjoyed this book.  It just made me FEEL smarter after having read it! 

Clearly Judy-influenced

Take a look at the picture of LaShonda on the cover of The Cruisers #3 A Star is Born by Walter Dean Myers.  Tell me. I dare you to tell me that is not the spitting image of Judy on the cover of the best movie ever.  It struck me right away.
In this latest installment, LaShonda has been noticed by the Virginia Woolf Society for her wonderful costume designs and they want to send her to a special place to live and a special school.  LaShonda, though, lives in a group home with her little brother who has autism and she doesn't want to leave him.  That is the main problem in this third book and The Cruisers must find a way to help out their friend.
I am still not into this series as much as I want to be, but I love Myers and so I will keep on keeping with them.  I love the twist of Zander and Caren.  And all of The Cruisers are very likable friends.  The books make you think and they take on big issues.  I do recommend them.

Cruisin'

So I started Cruisers in Plano and finished it in Pittsburgh, six months later.  I had to go back and reread the first part because I couldn't remember too much.  That was a bad sign.  Usually I can remember EVERYTHING about a Walter Dean Myers book because they captivate me so much.  I still quote Dope Sick and probably always will.  The second book in the series I liked about as much as this one, but didn't love either one.  But like I said in my review of Checkmate, I think that is because I expect so much from Myers, because he is just an incredible writer.
We meet Zander and his fellow prep school classmates in this book and learn that they are smart and cool and now they are disliked by their Vice Principal for just "cruising" through school and not taking it serious.  Mr. Cullpepper gives them the  task of trying to prevent the Civil War during the school's study of the War Between the States.  The book does a wonderful job of talking about race relations and it made me think about the Confederate flag, Stone Mountain and other things still around today that really, probably shouldn't be lauded as they still are.  We've come a long way, but not far enough.  My problem with the series probably is just that I don't know the characters well enough yet.  I like the books well enough though to keep on reading.

When I Was Down in Plano...

I visited the Harrington Branch of the City of Plano Library System.  I actually visited all of the branches and I have to say, Plano has great libraries.  At the Harrington Branch I happened upon the book The Cruisers and started to read it.  I like to sit in libraries for a bit and see how the service is.  I lead a VERY exciting life.  I got about fifty pages into it and I liked it but then I never remembered to get back to it when I got home.  On Monday I saw the audiobook for the second book, The Cruisers:  Checkmate and it was a good story.  Zander and his friends go to DiVinci Academy, a special school for very gifted students in NYC.  He and his friends have formed an alternative newspaper called The Cruiser and they live on the edge of the student body there, not trying too hard, not not-trying, just getting by, cruising, hence the name.  In this second book Zander and his friends try to help a fellow student who has been experimenting with drugs.  The dialog is witty, the characters are unique and likable.  The story was a little flat, but I do hold Mr. Myers to high standards, like I said, because his talent is out of this world.  In any case, I'll be reading the first one next and the ones to come.

Things I Haven't Thought about in Awhile

When was the last time you thought about Hobbes or Rousseau and Social Contract Theory?  For me it was YEARS ago, when I was back there in seminary school at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  All the Right Stuff by Walter Dean Myers didn't disappoint.  And it could have, because I have very high standards for Mr. Myers, because he is a truly masterful writer.
Like a lot of his books, this one is set in Harlem, with a male, teen main character.  Paul didn't know his dad very well.  His father had some serious problems with drugs.  As the summer begins Paul and his mother learn that his father is dead.  He was accidentally shot, an innocent bystander, victim of street violence.  Paul has a lot to think about and he ends up having a lot to think about when he spends his summer volunteering at Elijah's Soup Emporium.  Elijah is an old man who makes soup and serves it to senior citizens in the neighborhood.  Elijah is also a brilliant philosopher and historian and introduces Paul to social contract theory, asking him how it might work for him, why it is necessary, and what happens when people don't use the social contract theory and work within it, to make the most of their lives.  On the other side of the argument is Sly, a young man who has returned home to his Harlem neighborhood after college to start a business that he believes will help people rise up out of poverty.  Sly doesn't buy social contract theory at all.  He thinks social contract theory is kept around by the privileged to keep the poor and minorities in poverty.
There is great deal for Paul to think about and thus, for the reader to contemplate as well. And any book that makes me think is a great one.  Great stuff, Mr. Myers.  Thank you again.

On the Street Where You Live

Wouldn't it be neat to have one person from every neighborhood in the country write a short story about the folks and events in that neighborhood?  A little profile (from one person's POV, anyway) of everyday life and everyday people.  Think of all of the neat stories that would be told.
I have a Will Rogers tude toward Walter Dean Myers, never read a WDM book I didn't like.  145th Street is a collection of short stories, some heart-breaking, some funny, some that leave you saying, "wow" or "I hope the world is like that" or "I hope the world won't be like that forever."
Great stuff.
Song link!

Walter D. M. Can't Miss

That actually sounds like a titel of a book by Walter Dean Myers, the ULTIMATE KING of urban YA fiction. How do I love thee, Water Dean Myers? Let me count the ways: Scorpions, Slam!, Monster and a bunch more. I love thee because when I was booktalking to high school students who didn't like to read so much, I knew I could count on you to have written books that would grab their interest. I love thee because your writing is just so darn real-- even in the case of Dope Sick which bring supernatural elements to the rough city streets. Lil' J has just been part of dope deal gone very wrong. A cop has been shot and the police are after him. In the middle of the night he stumbles into an abandoned building where he meets Kelly, a dude just sitting alone in a room with a television and a remote control. Kelly's tv must be a combo of FIOS, Comcast and DishTV , however as it is able to playback pretty much all of the important moments in Lil' J's life. Kelly asks Lil' J, "If you could do it all over, and change something, what would it be?" The two spend the night reviewing the highlights and lowlights of Lil J's life. Lil' J talks about his mother's struggles with addiction and his own, his girlfriend who has his baby on the way and much more. A quick and powerful book.