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A review by ostrowk
Autobiography of My Dead Brother by Walter Dean Myers
4.0
"I was a little nervous, but I was ready to say good-bye to Rise and to tell him that he was the one who had to finish the book, not me. He had to get his own images together and his own style and decide who he wanted to be. It didn't matter if he couldn't draw well, because only he knew what the person he wanted to be would look like. I knew who I wanted him to be and so did a lot of people, but that wasn't good enough" (198).
Walter Dean Myers is a miracle; MY DEAD BROTHER ruled. I wish I could put this in the hands of every middle school boy, especially those at highest risk of falling in with a gang. It felt so real it hurt. In the same way that Reynolds' LONG WAY DOWN hits hard, this book describes with stunning precision the pain of watching others around you start turning into different people—people who make bad, dangerous decisions—as you struggle to define yourself. Jesse with his sketchbook, like C.J. with his piano, beautifully questions that life with the kind of generosity of spirit that comes from being so close to it.
Walter Dean Myers is a miracle; MY DEAD BROTHER ruled. I wish I could put this in the hands of every middle school boy, especially those at highest risk of falling in with a gang. It felt so real it hurt. In the same way that Reynolds' LONG WAY DOWN hits hard, this book describes with stunning precision the pain of watching others around you start turning into different people—people who make bad, dangerous decisions—as you struggle to define yourself. Jesse with his sketchbook, like C.J. with his piano, beautifully questions that life with the kind of generosity of spirit that comes from being so close to it.