Author
Walter Dean Myers
9 books here
Monster
Middle grade · ages 12–18 · 700L · 2006
A landmark YA novel that treats a 16-year-old as morally complex and intellectually capable; the dual-format (screenplay + journal) is not gimmicky but essential to the theme, and the refusal to answer 'guilty or innocent' honestly respects the reader's judgment.
Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 720L · 1994
A perfectly pitched Harlem friendship story that doesn't preach—Myers captures how kids talk, think, and navigate class and possibility with wit and real affection for his characters.
Autobiography of My Dead Brother
Young adult · ages 14–18 · 720L · 2005
A visceral, formally inventive meditation on male friendship and urban loss—the collage structure (photos, sketches, fragments) mirrors how grief actually works, and Myers refuses easy answers about who his dead friend was.
Lockdown
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 790L · 2011
A serious, clear-eyed look at youth detention and systemic constraint—Myers respects the reader's intelligence without preaching, and Reese's voice is authentic and grounded.
Slam!
Young adult · ages 10–18 · 740L · 2008
Myers writes Slam as a fully realized person navigating real stakes—family conflict, identity, desire—without sentimentality; basketball is the lens, not the point, and the verse form makes every line earn its place.
Darius & Twig
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · 780L · 2013
A genuinely moving exploration of class and friendship through dual perspectives; Myers treats both boys' interior lives with equal weight and dignity.
Somewhere in the Darkness
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 760L
A searing, unsentimental portrait of a boy trying to know his incarcerated father before death intervenes—Myers doesn't soften the complexity or the pain, which is precisely why it lands.
Scorpions
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 780L · 1988
A book about friendship that refuses sentimentality — Myers shows how poverty, family instability, and neighborhood violence shape character choice without excusing bad decisions.
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 780L · 1993
Myers gives Malcolm X back his humanity without sanitizing his flaws—a rigorously honest biography that treats middle-grade readers as capable of grappling with racism, reinvention, and political conviction.