A review by crowyhead
Autobiography of My Dead Brother by Walter Dean Myers

4.0

Walter Dean Myers has done it again. This is the touching, realistic story of a young man, Jesse, growing up in a neighborhood fraught with violence, who must rely on his family, friends, and his own good sense in order to survive and prosper. When his oldest friend, Rise, starts getting involved in drug-dealing and violent crime, Jesse is almost unsure whether to truly believe it's happening, since Rise has always spoken out against drugs and gangs. But Rise thinks he sees a way to get out of the neighborhood, a way to make something of himself, and Jesse must decide exactly where his loyalties lie. One of the highlights of the book is that Jesse is a budding artist, and Walter Dean Myers's son, Christopher Myers, has amply illustrated this novel with Jesse's illustrations, notebook doodles, and comic strips. It's a wonderful, realistic book, and it's beautifully executed.