Summary Of Bad Boy: A Memoir By Walter Dean Myers

The Life of Walter Dean Myers

In the book Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers, he describes his life as an African American during the 1940’s and 1950’s. Myers grew up in Harlem with a speech impediment and was fairly short-tempered. This humorous and exciting memoir depicts the life of a young black boy during the mid 1900’s.

First, Myers describes his family history. He starts off by telling the story of his great-great-uncle, a slave during the 19th century. The first place Myers remembers living in is Harlem, which he describes as a magical pace with exciting music, smells, and people. After getting into trouble by buying chocolate with his mother’s money and eating way too many icy pops (which resulted in a rushed trip to the hospital),

Despite his above average reading, he suffered from a speech impediment. When he was called upon to read out loud in class, other students would make fun of him and laugh, resulting in a punch to the face. He was short-tempered and would get in fights often, which would get him sent to the principal’s office. Myers describes his encounters with many of his teachers, most of which despised him.

Myers then focuses on how different times were compared to today. Two African Americans were accepted into major league baseball and a local newspaper claimed that blacks were finally going to be treated equally. Myers writes about how his love for playing ball got him friends, but he kept his love for reading a secret because it was frowned upon. As life goes on, he gets his first male teacher, named Mr. Lasher who convinced Myers that he is smart and capable of being in an advanced learning program, which made him feel special.

When his uncle is killed and his father slips into depression, Walter learns that he is not the center of the universe. At this time, he began to feel alone and more separate from his family. When Myers was thirteen, he decided that he wanted to see the world as a writer. He began trying to write poetry and during this time, he realizes that being black means being different from being white. He got frustrated that he is not good at writing and gave up on

Not only did the Myers family suffer financially, but Walter’s grandfather moved into their house because he lost his sight and needed assistance. This resulted in Walter losing his room and his parents fighting due to stress. At this point, he felt lost. His friends were talking about going to college and getting jobs and Myers was offered a job at a garment center, but he had no desire to work there. His speech impediment was a big obstacle in obtaining a job and eventually he just turned to summer activities, such as playing ball. Myers describes how the next school year was a disaster, and how he had trouble attending a lot of his classes. He claims that English was the reason that he did not drop out and that he grew as a writer during this year, although he felt confused and was becoming depressed. He even began writing poems about his loneliness but was unable to tell his parents how isolated he felt. Myers began hanging out with a boy named Frank, with whom he got into trouble, with while his mother wondered what was wrong with her