97 pages • 3 hours read
Walter Dean MyersA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Myers begins his memoir with an account of the world (and family) he was born into, explaining that this backstory cannot be separated from his own experiences: "While we live our own individual lives, what has gone before us, our history, always has some effect on us" (1). In Myers's case, this history can be traced back to the era of slavery; his great-great-uncle, Lucas D. Dennis, worked on a plantation in what would later become West Virginia. After the Civil War, Dennis moved to Martinsburg, West Virginia, where his family "merged" with another family—the Greens—ultimately leading to the birth of Myers's mother, Mary Dolly Green (3).
Molly, however, died while Myers himself was too young to remember her. What's more, his family life was complicated by the fact that Molly was his father's, George Myers's, second wife. George’s first wife, Florence, was the woman who actually raised Myers. Myers therefore details Florence's background as well, explaining that her mother was a German immigrant who married a Native American man. However, while Florence herself was biracial, her family didn't approve of her marriage to George Myers, which ended in divorce after the couple had two daughters, Geraldine and Viola.
By Walter Dean Myers
Autobiography of My Dead Brother
Autobiography of My Dead Brother
Walter Dean Myers
Dope Sick
Dope Sick
Walter Dean Myers
Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels
Walter Dean Myers
Hoops
Hoops
Walter Dean Myers
Lockdown
Lockdown
Walter Dean Myers
Monster
Monster
Walter Dean Myers
Scorpions
Scorpions
Walter Dean Myers
Shooter
Shooter
Walter Dean Myers
Slam!
Slam!
Walter Dean Myers
Somewhere in the Darkness
Somewhere in the Darkness
Walter Dean Myers
Street Love
Street Love
Walter Dean Myers
Sunrise Over Fallujah
Sunrise Over Fallujah
Walter Dean Myers
The Glory Field
The Glory Field
Walter Dean Myers
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali
Walter Dean Myers
The Young Landlords
The Young Landlords
Walter Dean Myers