Josiah Wedgewood and Marcus Perry are on their way to an uncertain future. Their whole lives are ahead of them, yet at the same time, death’s whisper is everywhere. One white, one black, these young men have nothing in common and everything in common as they approach an experience that will change them forever.

The last book in the four-book series finds the Cruisers in trouble again. The freedom of expression they’ve enjoyed by publishing their own school newspaper, THE CRUISER, has spread all the way to England, where kids from a school “across the pond” are now contributors to their own school’s most talked-about publication. They all soon learn that words and pictures in a newspaper don’t always tell the whole story.

Discussion Guide

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book, the novel examines friendship and the need to live one’s own dream. Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that life in Harlem throws at them.

Myers offers a wealth of advice that is professional and pragmatic and often couched in the context of his own work… [He] gives his readers the same opportunity through his advice and his large-hearted example. — Booklist

What is it to be an American? To live in a strange and beautiful land of complexity, with a tumultuous history of epic proportions, among the people who were here first, who came after, who will come tomorrow. Walter and his son Christopher Myers, a Caldecott Honor artist, celebrate the freedom dream that is America: our struggles, our ideals, and our hope that we can live up to them.

For the very first time in his decades-long career, Walter Dean Myers writes with a teen, Ross Workman about Kevin Johnson a thirteen-year-old who heading for juvie. He’s a good kid, a great friend, and a star striker for his soccer team. His team is competing for the State Cup, and he wants to prove he has more than just star-player potential. Kevin’s never been in any serious trouble . . . until the night he ends up in jail.

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A National Book Award Finalist, Lockdown is described as a: “A moving tale of a kid who may have made a mistake but who still deserves the modest future he seeks. Refreshingly avoids cliché,” in a starred review in the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Discussion Guide

The itch starts when things get too heavy for Lil J. Skin popping or stealing pain pills from his mom help him relax. But Lil J’s focus is wandering because money is short, and his man Rico knows a way to make some quick cash. It’s supposed to be an easy deal, but it isn’t so simple when the buyer is an undercover cop.

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Second Chance Initiative

In this portrayal of an “Operation Iraqi Freedom” soldier, Myers displays the ugly realities of the battlefield, while honoring the heroics of those in the trenches. “An astonishing book.” The New York Times

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Drew Lawson knows basketball is taking him places. It has to, because his grades certainly aren’t. But lately his plan has run squarely into a pick. Coach’s new offense has made another player a star, and Drew won’t let anyone disrespect his game. Just as his team makes the playoffs, Drew must come up with something big to save his fading college prospects.

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“A cycle of 15 poems and vivid, expressive paintings celebrate that most American genre of music: jazz. Myers père presents readers with poems that sing like their subject… Myers fils uses bold colors and lines straight from the muralists of the ’30s to create his illustrations… This offering stands as a welcome addition to the literature of jazz.”— Kirkus

This National Book Awards Finalist about two youngsters, one an aspiring artist and writer, the other merely ‘aspiring’ finds Jesse filling his sketchbook with drawings and portraits of Rise, while trying to make sense of the complexities of friendship, loyalty, and loss in a neighborhood plagued by drive-bys, vicious gangs, and abusive cops.

Discussion Guide

A complexity of experiences comes through vividly in the varying poetic styles… The rich and exciting text will give readers a flavor of the multiplicity of times and peoples of Harlem… Use this title to supplement classroom presentations, for individual or choral recitation, or simply suggest that teens find a good chair, get comfortable, and listen to what the people have to tell them.” — School Library Journal

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In a memoir that is gripping, funny, and ultimately unforgettable, Walter Dean Myers travels back to his roots in the magical world of Harlem during the 1940s and 1950s. Here is the story of one of the most distinguished writers of young people’s literature today. “A thoughtful, cautionary and inspiring tale.” — Chicago Tribune

Winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award, a National Book Award Finalist, A Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner and a New York Times Bestseller, Monster tells the story of Steve Harmon, a teenage boy in juvenile detention and on trial. Presented as a screenplay of Steve’s own imagination, and peppered with journal entries, the book shows how one single decision can change our whole lives.

Discussion Guide

The Coretta Scott King Award winning book tells the story of sixteen-year-old “Slam” Harris, who is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in life. School Library Journal stated: “Plenty of high-intensity basketball action and street lingo from the “hood” will appeal to reluctant readers.”

This Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor book by father and son team celebrates Harlem, which they perceive both as a city and a “promise of a better life,” in quite different but wonderfully complementary ways.

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From streetwise teenager to the militant leader of hundreds of thousands in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X was one of the most respected, and most feared, men in American history. This Coretta Scott King Honor book depicts a complex man whose life reflected the major issues of our times.

In this Newbery Honor book, a teenage boy accompanies his father, who has recently escaped from prison, on a trip that turns out to be an often painful, time of discovery for them both. “Whether from urban or rural backgrounds, single or double parent families, readers will find this universal journey of self-discovery gratifying.” School Library Journal

Since they were first brought as captives to Virginia, the people who would become African Americans have struggled for freedom. Thousands fought for the rights of all Americans during the Revolutionary War, and for their own rights during the Civil War. Here is African-American history, told through the stories of the people whose experiences have shaped and continue to shape the America in which we live. A Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner.

This Coretta Scott King Award Winner is a coming-of-age tale set in the trenches of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. This is the story of Perry, a Harlem teenager who volunteers for the service when his dream of attending college falls through. “A useful book for any literature tie-in with a history class studying war or racism, this work will assist students in gaining a real-life understanding of what occurs during such situations…” — Children’s Literature

Discussion Guide

The story of twelve-year-old Jamal, whose life changes drastically when he acquires a gun was awarded a Newbery Honor Medal. Though Jamal survives the experience, it’s not without sacrificing his innocence and possibly his relationship with his best friend.

Motown lives in a burned-out building one floor above the rats, searching out jobs every day, working his muscles every night, keeping strong, surviving. Didi lives in her cool dream bubble, untouched by the Harlem heat that beats down on her brother until only drugs can soothe him. Together they can stand the often brutal present. What about the future? A Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner.

If you were looking for a real ghetto dump, you couldn’t beat The Stratford Arms. Still, when Paul Williams and the Action Group got the Arms for one dollar, they thought they had it made but soon discovered being a landlord turned out to be a lot more work than being a kid. A Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner.

Stuff doesn’t know anyone when he first moves to 116th Street. But all of that changes when he meets Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Gloria. Stuff and the gang grow close that eventful year, and nothing is ever like it again. That’s the year modern science gets them all in jail; Stuff falls in love and is unfaithful; and Cool Clyde and Fast Sam win the dance contest — almost. A Coretta Scott King Author Honor Winner.