American Author Proposal

Irene De Leon

Block D

1/22/08

American Author Proposal

For the American author paper I have decided to read novels by Walter Dean Myers. The reason I chose this author was because I remembered that I read his novel Scorpions in 7^th grade. His book was much better than I had imagined and I thought his other novels must be just as good. I have not read any of his other novels but I am looking forward to reading them. What draws me to reading these novels is that the description and detail used within Scorpions was so good that the other novels should be too and unlike other book these don’t seem to be vague. I also feel like reading them because even though they are fiction some of it is still realistic. The last thing that drew me to this author is that he is not that recognized but he writes about true things and me you feel like you’re involved.

Even though Walter Dean Myers is not very recognized I feel that he is an important writer. When I was researching him I found out that he has written a lot of books. A lot of his books have to do with his own personal experiences on how his life was growing up in Harlem and what he went through in Vietnam. In the collection of books he has written there is an autobiography and some biographies of important people like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and his brother. When I was researching him I found out some very interesting things like he did not start writing until he came back from Vietnam and continued studying since he dropped out of High School. I feel that he is important because he overcame many challenges and got recognized for being a good writer by winning the ALA award, the Newberry award twice, the Coretta Scott King award five times, he was the first recipient of the Michael L. Printz award, and he was a finalist for the National Book award twice. I also feel he is important because kids can identify with what he is talking about because they have either been in that position or know someone who has gone through something similar.

Walter Dean Myers is an American. He was born in West Virginia and when his mom died he moved with his foster parents to Harlem, New York. I feel that he’s a good author because on the internet some people have commented that his writing has been thought of controversial because he revealed way to much detail about what happened in Vietnam in his novel Fallen Angels and that is something that is very appealing because it means that he does not care what people think and that he cares about the truth.

For this assignment I believe that I will read Monster (281pgs-trials/muder), The Outside Shot (185pgs-Juvenille Fiction), and Bloody Scotland (32pgs-poetry). The reason I chose different types of books by this author is because I would like to compare them to one another and be able to tell their differences. Besides these totally different books I will read his autobiography called Bad Boy: A Memoir (224pgs-Juvenille Nonfiction). I’m not definite about these books but I feel strongly about reading them because from reading their summaries they sound very interesting and I feel like I will enjoy them a lot. Right now I’m not very sure how this author will help me with my literary, thesis-based argument but I know that the differences in genre will help a lot. If I do end up reading these novels I plan to work my way through them from longest to shortest because the shorter books can be read quicker.