Walter Dean Myers, the author of
the memoir titled “Bad Boy,” wrote similar to how Sherman Alexie did with the
way the main character within the book is a mirror reflection of his own life.
Myers mentioned that after writing this book that he was so emotionally attached
to writing this because he felt that his teen years was the most difficult part
of his life.
The book
begins with information and thoughts that Walter obtained through childhood
memories, family quotes, and other records, all of which took place in his
early hometown within Harlem. What made this author interesting was his ability
to make readers focus and narrow their attention on many concepts within the
book. Although in the early chapters we want to latch on to Walter’s mother and
the way she seems to drift from work in order to keep a closer eye on her son,
I found myself wanting to learn more of his speech disorder in chapter three
when he discusses his early childhood school memories. He wrote of the main
characters quick temperament and anger towards his peers as they made fun of
him for his speech disorder, so much of which that it led his to punch his
tormenter straight in the face. Though I don’t want to summarize the entire
book, I was wondering if the common punishment back then of writing sentences
on paper as punishment either helped him or influenced him to become a writer?
Though I though that childhood incident was interesting, I became heartfelt and
almost shocked when I read about his moms way of handling the situation. Even
after receiving school punishment, Walter came home to a larger punishment
dished out by his mother.
Walter Dean
Myers wrote of such a transformation from a writer’s perspective that was
influenced by such early childhood. His young love for reading actually began
within classrooms of teachers that believed in him. Yes, Walter was a “bad boy,
a very bad boy,” but his teachers promoted his schooling and only wanted him to
achieve more. Walter wrote that he was given books and developed a love for
reading at a young age. Considering Walter was a quick-tempered and physically
strong boy, reading wasn’t seen as a “cool” thing as a student in Harlem, so
picking fights was something he had no problem in pursuing. This book had me
very emotionally attached that I would in fact recommend this to other readers
or teachers to teach in their classroom. I do believe that I would teach it in
my class. It lets students and readers learn about customs of others while it
is a short-time read at the same time. Though it’s themes were actually quite
difficult to grip, the idea of race and conflicts between school and society
was there.
To wrap
this up, this memoir reminded me of the novella “The House on Mango Street” by
Sandra Cisneros. Its similarities between the short read and the plot of
wanting to escape or accomplish something larger than what they were supplied
with as children interested me. Because the memoir “Bad Boy” had me interested
for majority of the read, I will rate it a B. Of course, I am a very lenient
grader, but I do believe that the childhood stories of Harlem in the middle
1900’s allowed the reader to open their eyes to something the probably haven’t
read or learned about before.
