Monster (Walter Dean Myers novel)
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Cover of unknown edition
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| Author | Walter Dean Myers |
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| Cover artist | Christopher Myers |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Spanish and English |
| Genre | Drama, Crime novel, Mystery |
| Publisher | Harpercollins |
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Publication date
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1999 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 281 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 40043530 |
| LC Class | PZ7.M992 Mon 2004 |
Monster is a young adult drama novel by American author Walter Dean Myers and was published by Harpercollins in 1999. It was nominated for the 1999 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2000, and was named a Coretta Scott King Award Honor the same year.
The book uses a mixture of a third-person screenplay and a first-person diary format to tell, through the perspective of Steve Harmon, an African American teenager, the story of his trial along with James King for felony murder in the state of New York.
The novel begins with 16-year-old Steve Harmon writing in his diary awaiting for his trial for murder. Musing on his short time in prison so far, he decides to record this upcoming experience in the form of a movie screenplay. Kathy O'Brien, Steve's lawyer, informs him on what will happen during trial. At this stage, only two of the four accused - James King and Steve, since the other two - Richard "Bobo" Evans and Osvaldo Cruz - have entered into a plea bargain (three of them black and one Latino). When the trial first begins, Steve flashes back to a movie he saw in his school's film club and the discussion he had with his teacher in which they discuss the idea of predictability.
The trial begins with the opening statements of the state prosecutor Sandra Petrocelli, O’ Brien, and King's lawyer, Asa Briggs. Petrocelli labels the four accused men, including Steve, as "monsters." The lawyers call on several witnesses, including Jose Delgado, who worked for the drugstore owner Aguinaldo Nesbitt; Lorelle Henry, a witness to the crime; as well as Salvatore Zinzi and Wendell Bolden, illicit cigarette traders, who admit to buying cigarettes that came from a drugstore robbery that led to the murder. The story of the trial is often broken up by a variety of flashbacks, including ones showing that King is only somewhat acquainted with Steve, that King has accused Steve of fatally pulling the trigger during the robbery. Petrocelli calls as a witness Osvaldo Cruz, who is affiliated with the Diablos, a violent street gang. Cruz admits to participating in the crime only due to coercion by Bobo.
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