Books by Walter Dean Myers

When I first got to Progress, it freaked me out to be locked in a room and unable to get out. But after a while, when you got to thinking about it, you knew nobody could get in, either.It seems as if the only progress that's going on at Progress juvenile facility is moving from juvy jail to real jail. Reese wants out early, but is he supposed to just sit back and let his friend Toon get jumped? Then Reese gets a second chance when he's picked for the work program at a senior citizens' home. He doesn't mean to keep messing up, but it's not so easy, at Progress or in life. One of the residents, Mr. Hooft, gives him a particularly hard time. If he can convince Mr. Hooft that he's a decent person, not a criminal, maybe he'll be able to convince himself.Acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers offers an honest story about finding a way to make it without getting lost in the shuffle.

Told in their separate voices, thirteen-year-old soccer star Kevin and police sergeant Brown, who knew his father, try to keep Kevin out of juvenile hall after he is arrested on very serious charges.

History has made me an African American. It is an Africa that I have come from, and an America that I have helped to create. Since they were first brought as captives to Virginia, the people who would become African Americans have struggled for freedom. Thousands fought for the rights of all Americans during the Revolutionary War, and for their own rights during the Civil War. On the battlefield, through education, and through their creative genius, they have worked toward one goal: that the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness be denied no one. Fired by the legacy of men and women like Abd al Rahman Ibrahima, Ida B. Wells, and George Latimer, the struggle continues today. Here is African-American history, told through the stories of the people whose experiences have shaped and continue to shape the America in which we live.

A teenage basketball player from Harlem is befriended by a former professional player who, after being forced to quit because of a point shaving scandal, hopes to prevent other young athletes from repeating his mistake.

Jesse uses his sketchbook and comic strips to make sense of his home in Harlem and the loss of a close friendship.

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

Biography of the African princess saved from execution and taken to England where Queen Victoria oversaw her upbringing and where she lived for a time before marrying an African missionary.

Depicts the rich character of Harlem through poetry and illustrations in which the author and his son paint a picture that connects readers to the spirit of Harlem in music, art, literature, and everyday life.

Things are going OK for Jimmy. He's getting along and holding his own in a tough world that's getting even tougher. Until he meets up with a stranger standing in a dark hallway. A man who turns out to be Jimmy's father, Crab, whom he hasn't seen since he was a baby. Crab's got something to prove to Jimmy. Maybe he's not sure what it is. Maybe Jimmy's not sure he wants to hear it. But Crab's determined to break through to his son, and he knows this could be his last chance. So he takes Jimmy off on a trip halfway across the country to his old haunts. Because he has to show Jimmy who he was, who he is. His father. In this intense and intimate book, Walter Dean Myers takes an unsparing look at the ties that bind us, and sometimes free us. - Publisher. A teenage boy accompanies his father, who has recently escaped from prison, on a trip that turns out to be an, often painful, time of discovery for them both.

Seventeen-year-old Greg "Slam" Harris can do it all on the basketball court. He's seen ballplayers come and go, and he knows he could be one of the lucky ones. Maybe he'll make it to the top. Or maybe he'll stumble along the way. Slam's grades aren't that hot. And when his teachers jam his troubles in his face, he blows up. Slam never doubted himself on the court until he found himself going one-on-one with his own future, and he didn't have the ball.

Relates briefly the rise of a convict through self-education and love of his black brothers to become a leader of the black people of the United States

Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

After reluctantly taking on the leadership of the Harlem gang, the Scorpions, Jamal finds that his enemies treat him with respect when he acquires a gun--until a tragedy occurs.

Five devoted friends become landlords and try to make their Harlem neighborhood a better place to live.

When Lonnie Jackson leaves Harlem for a basketball scholarship to a midwestern college, he know he must keep his head straight and his record clean. That's the only way he'll have a chance of making it to the pros someday.But his street smarts haven't prepared him for the pressures of tough classes, high-stakes college ball, and the temptation to fix games for local gamblers. Everyone plays by a whole new set of rules -- including Sherry, who's determined to be a track star. Her independence attracts Lonnie, but their on-again, off-again relationship is driving him crazy.Lonnie has one year to learn how to make it as a "college man." It's his outside shot at a bright future. Does he have what it takes?From the Paperback edition.

Stuff doesn't know anyone when he first moves to 116th Street. But all of that changes when he meets Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Gloria. Stuff and the gang grow close that eventful year, and nothing is ever like it again. That's the year modern science gets them all in jail; Stuff falls in love and is unfaithful; and Cool Clyde and Fast Sam win the dance contest-almost.