Autobiography of my dead brother by Walter Dean Myers, art by Christopher Myers. HarperCollins Publisher, 2005.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book because its list of characters, setting and mix of illustrations seemed to me to be well balanced and accessible to the reluctant reader. I have recommended this to a number of students, and I could tell from their reading journal entries, they were connecting to Jesse, his family, and to the loss of a friend to the streets. Bristol is far from Harlem, but I feel that the kids trusted Myers' depictions. Could the drive-bys and Diablos be stereotypical? I don't know as this is so far out of my league but I am trusting Myers to give me a raw but realistic setting.
I feel cynical in examining the makeup of each family and the key characteristics of each character, but one can run down the list of typical characters. The difference I think is that at heart this is a story about loyalty to friends and growing up / growing apart. Rise dies, but his philosophy, before he turned to pushing drugs, is, well, as his cartoon alter ego symbolizes: wise. I think this is an important theme for students to understand. If this is not their reality, then perhaps they will see that the theme is a common thread found in all cultures. The fact that the roles of the stock characters are not new, is perhaps less important. Jesse and Rise are well developed and dynamic.
I also really liked the illustrations. They support some scenes, such as the retaliation drive-by, and yet others take a concept or conflict from the plot, and elevate it, so that the underlying purpose from the printed word now has an added dimension. I am reminded of the trains going by Rise, and in the end, the fact that the trains never seem to be coming for him, foreshadows his ultimate death.
The fact that this book was a National Book Award finalist, shows the quality of this piece.
Liz
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Blog for, Autobiography of my Dead Brother, by Walter Dean Myers, HarperCollins 2005.
ReplyDeleteAutobiography of my Dead Brother, unlike Becoming Naomi Leon, was very heavy reading. I felt that Myers gave a lot of detail in the story but it took a while before the details came to a climax and a conclusion. I tried to predict what would happen next, but couldn't until the last couple of chapters when the details seemed to come together. I didn't connect early in the story that the brother Myers refers to in the title was Rise. I imagined it was, but it wasn't until the very end that I was sure.
This story is definitely male centered. The only female characters were Jesse and C.J's mothers Tania the "girlfriend" and White Clara, whose only job in the story was braiding hair. I think that I had a difficult time really getting into the book because the main characters were male.
What did keep me going was the detail in the description of where Jesse lives. As a Native New Yorker I could picture the streets of Harlem where the story takes place. I went to school on Convent Ave. and 135th Street and know how unpredictable the area can be. I remember hearing of drive by shootings on the news almost on a daily basis, that it became common place. A sad reality of the time. If not for my personal connections to the story, I don't know if the students at Suffield Middle or High School would stay interested. It is a violent reality that I'm not sure my students are prepared for.
October 26, 2009 7:57 PM
November 1, 2009 10:40 AM
Camel Mom said... Using our midterm question on the difference between an excellent book and a mediocre book I would choose this book as the mediocre book. I really think that Autobiography is a good book but definitely for an older audience.
I think the pace was difficult even for me to follow at times. The book was slow for me and I often questioned where the story was going. I felt as if Myers was slow into coming to climaxes because if he wasn't slow in the pacing of the story, the book would have been too predictable and short.
From the beginning, the mood of the book was somber, beginning with a funeral of a 14 year old boy. I'm sure that it was Myer's intent to begin this way in order to illustrate, in text, the mood of the rest of the story.
As I stated in an earlier blog on this book, I was more engaged by the setting of the story because I am familiar with the streets Myers uses for the backdrop of the story. I don't know if students outside of New York City would be able to picture the setting unless they are familiar with urban settings.
The characters definitely fit in with the setting of the story, but I'm not sure that students in my rural district would relate to them or see them as just another stereotype of another culture. I knew a lot of kids like Rise and Jesse when I went to school in Manhattan. Myers portrayal is not far off. I think that at this point because of what they see in the news and read in newspapers, my students might take this story as the truth about what happens to youth in the urban areas. They glorify that "gangsta" culture and often try to mimic it at school. The students that live in town cling to the friendships of the students from Hartford because Hartford students represent that lifestyle even if it's not really how they live.
As I said, although I enjoyed reading this book, I think it is better suited for an upper High School or college level. It probably wouldn't be a book that I would read had it not been recommended.
November 1, 2009 11:42 AM
liz said...
ReplyDeleteResponse to Marilyn's review of Autobiography of my dead brother, by Walter Dean Myers.
Would I classify this as good literature? Well, I can look to the BOE here in Bristol, and their recommendation for stocking this title in our classroom library for students in a Foundations English class. It was selected because it can be engaging, it has a redemptive message, it weaves illustrations that extend the meaning of the text, and it is targeted to young men. It was not recommended for regular Freshman English classes. I think that the problem with AOMDB does not offer too much beyond the themes I listed earlier. I would have hard time developing rigorous lessons based on this book, precisely because it does not go beyond the initials themes found in so many young adult novels.
So I can agree with your assessment that this would not rise to the level of good literature.
Liz
November 1, 2009 12:06 PM
Autobiography of my Dead Brother, unlike Becoming Naomi Leon, was very heavy reading. I felt that Myers gave a lot of detail in the story but it took a while before the details came to a climax and a conclusion. I tried to predict what would happen next, but couldn't until the last couple of chapters when the details seemed to come together. I didn't connect early in the story that the brother Myers refers to in the title was Rise. I imagined it was, but it wasn't until the very end that I was sure.
ReplyDeleteThis story is definitely male centered. The only female characters were Jesse and C.J's mothers Tania the "girlfriend" and White Clara, whose only job in the story was braiding hair. I think that I had a difficult time really getting into the book because the main characters were male.
What did keep me going was the detail in the description of where Jesse lives. As a Native New Yorker I could picture the streets of Harlem where the story takes place. I went to school on Convent Ave. and 135th Street and know how unpredictable the area can be. I remember hearing of drive by shootings on the news almost on a daily basis, that it became common place. A sad reality of the time. If not for my personal connections to the story, I don't know if the students at Suffield Middle or High School would stay interested. It is a violent reality that I'm not sure my students are prepared for.
October 26, 2009 7:57 PM
The previous post was actually from Marilyn, originally posted on October 26th. We are just trying to get the blog posts all together. Sorry for the confusion!
ReplyDeleteLiz