Guilty or innocent, Steve becomes a pawn in the hands of 'the system,' cluttered with cynical authority figures and unscrupulous inmates, who will turn in anyone to shorten their own sentences. A Harlem drugstore owner was shot and killed in his store, and the word is that Steve served as the lookout. Sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon is on trial for murder. It probably depends on what you mean by 'win.'

You let the jury know that you think the case is a serious as they do. When you're in court, you sit there and pay attetion. Both you and this king character are on trial for felony murder. Let me make sure you understand what's going on. Kathy O'Brien, Steve's lawyer, is all business as she talks to Steve. I'll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. (Ages 12 and older) -Jennifer Hubert From the Back Cover: 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. Readers will no doubt be attracted to the novel's handwriting-style typeface, emphasis on dialogue, and fast-paced courtroom action. Steve is an adolescent caught up in the violent circumstances of an adult world-a situation most teens can relate to on some level. 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. I guess making you live is part of the punishment.' 'They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can't kill yourself no matter how bad it is. 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. To calm his nerves as he sits in the courtroom, aspiring filmmaker Steve chronicles the proceedings in movie script format. 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.

'Monster' is what the prosecutor called 16-year-old Steve Harmon for his supposed role in the fatal shooting of a convenience-store owner.

Monster walter dean myers movie