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A review by cass1233
Autobiography of My Dead Brother by Walter Dean Myers
2.0
This book is rather depressing. It is written in first person and is about a teenage African-American boy, named Jesse, growing up in Harlem. He is a pretty good kid and is part of a club called The Counts. His best friends name is Rise, and the book documents how Rise changes and brings a lot of turmoil to the neighborhood the boys live in. Jesse is an artist and he begins drawing pictures of Rise to try to figure out what is going on with him. Rise likes the pictures and asks Jesse to write his biography. Eventually, Rise informs Jesse that he is thinking about getting into drug dealing and working with a gang. Jesse still doesn't understand what is going on, and he knows he doesn't want to be involved in what Rise is getting into. But, Jesse doesn't stand up to Rise and try to stop him either. Eventually, The Counts are called a gang in the newspaper, which causes Jesse's family to really worry about him. Rise continues to get weirder and weirder to Jesse, but he keeps writing the biography and painting his pictures. At the end of the story, Rise is caught by the police because he is suspected of shooting some guys from a gang called the Diablos. Jesse and some other guys are even brought in with him, but it is evident that they were part of an alibi. After Rise is released from jail, he calles Jesse to tell him that he is moving to Florida. Some of The Counts gather to tell Rise goodbye, but when Rise comes over he is shot in the street and killed. The last chapter of the book covers Rise's funeral and Jesse's final thoughts on the entire summer.
This book has been challenged or banned in many areas, so it would be difficult to use it in the classroom. It deals with a lot of touchy topics including gangs and drugs. It is a realistic story though and could possibly be used to warn teenagers of the dangers of getting involved in this kind of crime. The only way I would recommend this book to a student would be to run it by the parents first to make sure they would be alright with their child reading it.
This book has been challenged or banned in many areas, so it would be difficult to use it in the classroom. It deals with a lot of touchy topics including gangs and drugs. It is a realistic story though and could possibly be used to warn teenagers of the dangers of getting involved in this kind of crime. The only way I would recommend this book to a student would be to run it by the parents first to make sure they would be alright with their child reading it.