Reader response to Bad Boy by Walter Dean Myers (the same guy who wrote Fallen Angels)
Inside cover reads:
"Into a memoir that is gripping, funny, heartbreaking, and unforgettable, Walter Dean Myers richly weaves the details of his Harlem childhood in the 1940s and 50s: a loving home life with his adoptive parents, Bible school, street games, and the vitality of his neighborhood. Although Walter spent much of his time either getting into trouble or on the basketball court, secretly he was a voracious reader and an aspiring writer. But as his prospects for a successful future diminished, the values he had been taught at home, in school, and in his community seemed worthless, and he turned to the streets and his books for comfort."
My Rxn:
Well, it's a far cry from the boring novel, fallen angels. In fact, bad boy is so good that it makes me want to give FA another chance. perhaps i just read it too quickly. Anyways. This is a great book. it's very reminicient of The House on Mango Street, The Watsons Go to Birmingham:1963, and several other stories. in fact, i think that if i ever had my students read Fallen Angels, (which i won't) i would have them read this first, because the memoir ends when walter enlists in the army. This is an excellent read for a few reasons: it's a great bildungsroman story, it shows the struggle of being a black teenage male, deals with the question of self discovery (who am I?), and the protagonist is passionate about reading and writing. This one wins a Word Nerd Seal of Approval.
Notable Quotables:
"Manuel stopped the 'dabba-dabba-dabba' when I hit him in the face. When Mrs. Bower, our 2nd grade teacher, came into the room, the class was standing around Manuel, who lay still on the floor. 'Is he dead?' someone asked" (18).
Sending a troublemaker to the principal's office isn't always the best solution to the problem.
"Actually, I liked the principal's office. It was interesting to see the teachers come and go, talking about what they would have for lunch or what they had done the night before just as if they were normal people" (18).
"Reverend Abbot was a young white minister from Georgia who was assigned to our church for the summer. When he caught us lynching Richard, he turned about five shades whiter" (39).
"Mrs. Conway was an enormously hippy woman. She moved slowly and always had a scowl on her face. She reminded me of a great white turtle with just a dash of rouge and a touch of eyeshadow. It was not a pretty sight" (44-45).
"I firmly believed that God saw everything and duly noted all transgressions, big and small. It was never my intention to do wrong, and so generally I thought I was in good stead with the Almighty. But as spring rolled around that year, I found myself barely hanging on to that side of the ledger" (58).
A good lesson. teachers, take note:
"The teachers didn't seem to notice that the black kids weren't comfortable with the textbook" (75).
"I also loved Little Men , after reading it twice, got Little Women from the library. I thought Little Women was quite possibly the worst book ever written" (75).
LMAO
"I wondered where and how I would fit in to a society that basically didn't like me" (113).
"I wanted him to give me a telephone number that I could use to call God directly and get the straight scoop. I wanted to hear a big voice on the phone say 'Yea, verily, this is me, God. It's all good, my man, and will be ultracool in the end. Don't worry about it'"(138).
"What I was trying was not to do anything. What I wat trying was to be somebody I could recognize as having the values and interests that I had learned were good. I wanted to be the person who wrote poems that moved the hearts of wicked men and made beautiful women swoon at my feet. I wanted to be the person who wrote with such passion that all people would turn away from injustice and embrace the Sermon on the Mount. I wanted to write my poems and read them in a bar filled with shiny-faced admirers and then fall drunk and be arried off to a movie star's bed" (141).
"I knew that if I had not scored highly on the IQ tests, I would have been considered just bad, or rebellious. But I was certifiably bright and, therefore, disturbed" (169).
"As a teenager I felt it was important to define who I was. I was a thinking being, and I wanted to know where I fit into the world. Even if the importance of defining myself had somehow eluded me, there were people around me who would not let me forget the impo5rtance of announcing to the world who I was or intended to be. I had taken tests in grammar school to indicate in what directino I should be thinking of going. Career advisors had asked me, at 15, about my intended major in college. From the time I was old enough to read, adults had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up" (175).
"I remembered my high school writing teacher's advice: whatever you do, don't stop writing" (202).
"Writing has let me into a world in which I am respected, where the skills I have are respected for themselves. I am in a world of book lovers and people eager to rise to the music of language and ideas. All in all it has been a great journey and not at all shabby for a bad boy" (206).
LOVE the concluding statement. VERY SOLID. It took me 2 days to read this... about 1.5 hours on day 1 and about 2 hours on day 2. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in american history, Harlem, African American Authors, and teens!
Inside cover reads:
"Into a memoir that is gripping, funny, heartbreaking, and unforgettable, Walter Dean Myers richly weaves the details of his Harlem childhood in the 1940s and 50s: a loving home life with his adoptive parents, Bible school, street games, and the vitality of his neighborhood. Although Walter spent much of his time either getting into trouble or on the basketball court, secretly he was a voracious reader and an aspiring writer. But as his prospects for a successful future diminished, the values he had been taught at home, in school, and in his community seemed worthless, and he turned to the streets and his books for comfort."
My Rxn:
Well, it's a far cry from the boring novel, fallen angels. In fact, bad boy is so good that it makes me want to give FA another chance. perhaps i just read it too quickly. Anyways. This is a great book. it's very reminicient of The House on Mango Street, The Watsons Go to Birmingham:1963, and several other stories. in fact, i think that if i ever had my students read Fallen Angels, (which i won't) i would have them read this first, because the memoir ends when walter enlists in the army. This is an excellent read for a few reasons: it's a great bildungsroman story, it shows the struggle of being a black teenage male, deals with the question of self discovery (who am I?), and the protagonist is passionate about reading and writing. This one wins a Word Nerd Seal of Approval.
Notable Quotables:
"Manuel stopped the 'dabba-dabba-dabba' when I hit him in the face. When Mrs. Bower, our 2nd grade teacher, came into the room, the class was standing around Manuel, who lay still on the floor. 'Is he dead?' someone asked" (18).
Sending a troublemaker to the principal's office isn't always the best solution to the problem.
"Actually, I liked the principal's office. It was interesting to see the teachers come and go, talking about what they would have for lunch or what they had done the night before just as if they were normal people" (18).
"Reverend Abbot was a young white minister from Georgia who was assigned to our church for the summer. When he caught us lynching Richard, he turned about five shades whiter" (39).
"Mrs. Conway was an enormously hippy woman. She moved slowly and always had a scowl on her face. She reminded me of a great white turtle with just a dash of rouge and a touch of eyeshadow. It was not a pretty sight" (44-45).
"I firmly believed that God saw everything and duly noted all transgressions, big and small. It was never my intention to do wrong, and so generally I thought I was in good stead with the Almighty. But as spring rolled around that year, I found myself barely hanging on to that side of the ledger" (58).
A good lesson. teachers, take note:
"The teachers didn't seem to notice that the black kids weren't comfortable with the textbook" (75).
"I also loved Little Men , after reading it twice, got Little Women from the library. I thought Little Women was quite possibly the worst book ever written" (75).
LMAO
"I wondered where and how I would fit in to a society that basically didn't like me" (113).
"I wanted him to give me a telephone number that I could use to call God directly and get the straight scoop. I wanted to hear a big voice on the phone say 'Yea, verily, this is me, God. It's all good, my man, and will be ultracool in the end. Don't worry about it'"(138).
"What I was trying was not to do anything. What I wat trying was to be somebody I could recognize as having the values and interests that I had learned were good. I wanted to be the person who wrote poems that moved the hearts of wicked men and made beautiful women swoon at my feet. I wanted to be the person who wrote with such passion that all people would turn away from injustice and embrace the Sermon on the Mount. I wanted to write my poems and read them in a bar filled with shiny-faced admirers and then fall drunk and be arried off to a movie star's bed" (141).
"I knew that if I had not scored highly on the IQ tests, I would have been considered just bad, or rebellious. But I was certifiably bright and, therefore, disturbed" (169).
"As a teenager I felt it was important to define who I was. I was a thinking being, and I wanted to know where I fit into the world. Even if the importance of defining myself had somehow eluded me, there were people around me who would not let me forget the impo5rtance of announcing to the world who I was or intended to be. I had taken tests in grammar school to indicate in what directino I should be thinking of going. Career advisors had asked me, at 15, about my intended major in college. From the time I was old enough to read, adults had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up" (175).
"I remembered my high school writing teacher's advice: whatever you do, don't stop writing" (202).
"Writing has let me into a world in which I am respected, where the skills I have are respected for themselves. I am in a world of book lovers and people eager to rise to the music of language and ideas. All in all it has been a great journey and not at all shabby for a bad boy" (206).
LOVE the concluding statement. VERY SOLID. It took me 2 days to read this... about 1.5 hours on day 1 and about 2 hours on day 2. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in american history, Harlem, African American Authors, and teens!
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