Walter Dean Myers Research Papers

Holly Barker

Mrs. Blomme

English 11

15 December 2014

Walter Dean Myers Walter Dean Myers was an author born in the late nineteen thirties who wrote stories for troubled kids and teens. Walter Dean Myers wrote about the lives of struggling or troubled teens and what it was like growing up in their shoes, because at one point he was in their shoes. He wrote the kinds of stories he wished he had had to read while he was growing up, since he was at one point a troubled teen himself. Walter was born on the twelve of August, nineteen thirty seven in Martinsburg West Virginia.

He was born as Walter Milton Myers but he was sent to go live with his father’s first wife Florence Dean, her husband, and two daughters in Harlem after his mother died.

But he struggled with grades and discipline and was at risk of dropping out. One of his teachers even told him that no matter what happened for him to never stop writing. (Walter Dean Myers) But at the age of seventeen he dropped out of high school and enlisted himself into the army instead of trying to go to college since his family couldn’t afford it. However, to this day they still consider him a graduate from his high school. When walter returned home from the army, he worked various jobs and began writing again. He mainly wrote just for magazines, (Scholastic) but once he started writing again he didn’t

People fought for equal rights for their jobs and living conditions, but didn't always get it. But one of the big things in Harlem at the time were the uprising and influence of gangs. In his stories Walter Dean Myers talks about gangs quite often, and some of the things they did and how they worked. Another big influence of Harlem at the time was crime and violence, which also went along with gags. (Americas Best History) In his story Big Joe’s Funeral it talked about some of the crime and violence going on in the city through the narrator's