Tom Myers Books

[Pavido Scalf]

Youvisit hundreds of schools and detention centers. What are some of the most moving things kids say to you about your books?

The most touching are the children who tell me that they wish they had read my books prior to getting into trouble. I understand that to mean that my books have brought them the language of their own emotions and problems and the concept that they are not alone in the world. This is the most we can ask of any book.

How did books become so important in your life?

Books were important to me early on because my foster mother read with me. I think I liked hanging out with her more than I liked the reading.

Does book banning do more harm than good?

I think that most often the people wanting to censor books are well-meaning and concerned about the welfare of their children. But I suggest that children will be exposed to the world in spite of their efforts, and that exposure is best handled in a school setting.

What advice do you have for those parents who say they just want to protect their kids?

I wanted my children to be ready for a world they would sometimes find difficult to handle, as I have had to be ready. There are no social cocoons to shield young people from the realities of life.

Why is free speech important?

We express the concepts of our humanity and of our personal freedoms through speech. No people can fully realize their potential or be truly free if their speech is fettered.

I was born on a Thursday, the 12th of August, 1937, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. My name at birth was Walter Milton Myers. I was about two years old when my mother died and then I was inexplicably given to Florence and Herbert Dean. I was raised in Harlem by Herbert, who was African-American and Florence, who was German and Native American and wonderful. They loved me very much and I grew to love Harlem.

Walter Dean Myers won the Council on Interracial Books for Children contest in 1969, which resulted in the publication of his first book, Where Does the Day Go? Since then, he has won more awards than any author for young adults, and is one of the most prolific writers, with more than 110 books to his credit.

Additionally, one book will be awarded the 2025 Walter Award for Younger Readers. One to two books will be chosen as 2025 Walter Honor Book(s) for Younger Readers. The age range for these titles is 9-13.

The submissions deadline for The 2024 Walter Dean Myers Awards consideration is November 15, 2023. All shipments must be postmarked no later than November 15, 2023. Shipments postmarked after this date will NOT be eligible for consideration.

To maintain a professional boundary between judges and authors, no author, their family member, or their business partner may directly send any materials to a judge. If any author, their family member, or their business partner sends a work to a judge directly, that work will be disqualified.

*We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.

Please check our submission guidelines listed above. The guidelines outline who is allowed to submit books and nominations. WNDB is not accepting nominations from the general public; eligible submissions must be sent directly to the Walter Awards Judging Committee by the publisher.

The Walter Awards and Honor Books will be announced in January of the year award. For example, books published in 2017 are eligible for the 2018 Walter Awards; those winners will be announced in January 2018.

When Walter Dean Myers was researching "Monster," his book about a teenager in juvenile detention, he conducted interviews with everyone from teen inmates to prison guards. But it was his conversation with a defense lawyer that really resonated.

He encourages adults to become mentors and parents and others to read to children. But his books exemplify another important idea: To get kids and teens reading, create characters they can identify with.

Tall and casually dressed in light jeans and an untucked, green-collared shirt, Myers sits in a large leather chair at his home in New Jersey. Three large, wooden bookshelves take over the office wall behind him. He frequently pushes himself out of his seat to walk across the room and pull one of his many books off the shelf.

The author of 104 children's and young adult books, Myers doesn't write your average teen drama. Prom queen characters are replaced by high school dropouts or young soldiers, vampires by children growing up in single-parent homes.

"With my writing, what I want to do is humanize the young people I write about," Myers says. There are 2 million kids in the United States who live below the poverty line, and 5 million who have had someone in their family go to jail.

Myers knows the audience he wants to reach: He was once a part of it. Growing up as a foster child in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City, Myers dropped out of high school at age 17 and joined the Army. An uncle was killed when Myers was still a teen, which set off a series of heartbreaking events in his foster home, which included adults who dealt with alcoholism and depression. "My family disintegrated," Myers says.

He always liked to write, and teachers told him he was bright. Three years after joining the Army he started writing for magazines. It was "a small hobby," he says, writing after work and taking workshops. He got into writing for young people, in part, because it gave him an opportunity to explore what he had gone through as a teen.

"When my family fell apart, it was such a troubled part of my life.... I think I could understand what I was going through, but I didn't have the vocabulary for it," he says while flipping through the pages of a book. Writing for teens as an adult "felt natural," Myers says. "My young adult stuff was genuine."

Some people tell Myers his books are too gritty (his 1988 award-winning novel "Fallen Angels," inspired by his younger brother, a soldier who was killed on his first day in Vietnam, has been banned in some schools due to its language and vivid portrayal of war).

Though his books may sound depressing, Myers says they aren't. "I'm a hopeful guy, so all my stories end up that way. I tuck them all into bed," he says. Take the story "Lockdown." It's about a young man in juvenile detention who feels hopeless about his future as his release nears. He knows his mom is using drugs, and that he may end up right back in jail.

But he's given an opportunity to work at a senior center, where he meets an older gentleman who tells him how he survived internment in a Japanese war camp. The old man endured by finding something outside himself to love.

Joan Enders, a high school librarian at Robert A. Long High School outside Seattle, says she's grateful for Myers's work. "The reason I select [his books] ... is they really speak to students having to face extraordinary hardships and a need to make choices," Ms. Enders says.

More than 50 percent of students in her district qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches, and she knows many come from difficult living situations. "They need to be buoyed up by stories giving hope," she says.

Myers visited Robert A. Long as part of his national ambassador tour this spring (he makes about two trips a month to speak at schools and community groups). "Reading is not optional," he told a student assembly there.

Melissa Johnson, a high school junior, agrees. She normally prefers to read fantasy books because they engage her imagination, she says. But she was happy to find Myers's books "The Beast" and "Sunrise Over Fallujah."

Myers also conducts collaborative writing projects and leads workshops. He worked with a group of elementary school students in Harlem, N.Y., to write a series of poems, which were illustrated by Myers's artist-son, Christopher.

He also co-wrote a book with a 13-year-old fan, Ross Workman. The teen wrote Myers a letter saying that he liked the way Myers wrote. They collaborated via e-mail: Four years later, the book "Kick" was published.

"I asked how to format a book so that you like it, and your readers like it," Jakob says. "He had a really good response: Don't sacrifice your own ideas so readers will like it; because if you believe in something strongly enough, then [readers] will enjoy it, too.' "

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Books-A-Million Fort Myers is excited to announce its temporary relocation inside the Edison Mall. Due to a recent water main break, the bookstore has moved next to the food court. The company eagerly anticipates returning to its original space in the near future, but until then, customers can enjoy a convenient shopping experience in the temporary location.

Despite the temporary shift, customers can still enjoy a curated selection of books, along with the convenience of three kiosks outside the store featuring popular items such as Funko Pop!, Hello Kitty, and Squishmallows. Associates are available to assist customers with orders and offer direct shipping to their doorstep for any products not found in-store.

Team members are enthusiastic about serving customers in the new location, as expressed by Scott Kappler, the Executive Vice President of Store Operations: "We're thrilled to continue bookselling in Ft. Myers. While we await the reopening of our original location, we look forward to reconnecting with all of our loyal customers soon."

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