In honor of Black History Month, we’re looking at titles by Walter Dean Myers in this week’s Throwback Thursday!
Myers was a New York Times bestselling author of books for children and young adults. During his lifetime, he received of some of the highest honors in children’s literature, including two Newbery Honors and multiple Coretta Scott King awards. The author also served as the 2012-13 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for the Library of Congress.
Here are some of Myers’ works published between the ‘70s and the ‘90s, which include biographies about Muhammad Ali and Malcom X, stories set in the author’s native Harlem, and historic fiction. Fun fact: the copy of Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary in the Scholastic Archive is an autographed edition, signed by Myers himself in 1993!
Victory for Jamie, 1977
The referee held his hand up and pointed at Jamie. He had fouled the Dover player. The Dover player went to the foul line. He had two shots and he made them both. A few seconds later the buzzer sounded.
Fallen Angels, 1988
Richie Perry was seventeen and in trouble. There was no way he could afford college, and the streets were just too hard.
Somewhere in the Darkness, 1992
Jimmy’s doing all right. He’s fourteen, lives in Harlem, and is holding his own in a pretty tough world. But things get tougher when Jimmy’s father, Cab, shows up.
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, 1993
The sixties was a decade of change in the United States. Some of the changes were orderly, some were not. In a way it was the first period in American history in which people took their protests to the streets and actually forced changes in the way the country went about its business.
The Glory Field, 1994
The field itself didn’t look like much. Curry Island, South Carolina, was covered with many fields as fine as this one.
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali, 1994
Cassius Marcellus Clay acted like a madman at the weigh-in.
Shadow of the Red Moon, 1995
Jon doesn’t want to leave home. But he has no choice.
Slam!, 1996
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.
Special thanks to Gina Asprocolas and the Scholastic librarians for their help with this series!
Raisa Masood
