Analysis Of Bad Boy By Walter Dean Meyers

Bad Boy is a memoir written by African American author, Walter Dean Meyers. A memoir is a story in which the author is writing about his or herself and the events that has occurred in their life. Bad Boy takes place during the 40’s through the 60’s. In the book, Bad Boy, the author displays the dramatic changes throughout his school, social and family life. Walter Dean Meyers shares many happenings about being African American is school life, social life, and society. Although, I have not completed reading Bad Boy, I am eager to continue reading and learning more about the writer. The opening of Bad Boy begins with Walter describing his family. He explained his original family and the family who adopted and raised him in Harlem, New York. Walter then went on about his toddler and young child years, in which he spent with his foster mother, Florence Dean. He also described his older sisters and his father, Herbert Dean. All of which are his foster family and African American. Walter soon began first grade, which began with a shaky start when he could not read

This improved his grades and teachers noticed his intelligence. He was put into all of the smarter classes, which was rare for African Americans at this time. Walter continued for his affection for reading, but he discovered that he had a skill in writing as well. He began writing poems and short stories about his life, neighbors, books or basically anything. As Walter reached middle school, he met his birth family, including his father and his brother Mickey. Walter and Mickey were close in age, yet very diverse. But they still became close friends and would hang out often. Walter stopped most of his big fights come middle school, but he still would act a bit mischievous at times. Most people didn’t approve of this because Walter was African American, but Walter did not see racism as a big issue until he became