Autobiography of My Dead Brother: An Illustrated YA Story of Diverging Paths and Loyalty in Harlem

We have a tough group who are willing readers...this book was a hit! It caught the attention of those students who do not easily get engaged in a book.

Very good book for young black teenagers to get out the hood and do what's best for you not for anyone else

he enjoy the book

The Book, I bought 6 of them and they were in good shape, (got them timely too!)

"Yeah well, he went out like a man,' Rise said". In the first chapter of the book Rise says that someone that had died in a drive by went out like a man. This is interesting because Rise thinks if you get shot like a baby, you go out like a man. This makes you think from chapter 1 that Rise may or may not get shot or one of his close friends will be shot. This book is realistic fiction and describes the everyday lives of young teenagers that get themselves into bad situations. Jesse is a 15 year old boy who is determined to finish an autobiography of his long time friend Rise. Rise is a troubled young man who falls into the wrong crowd and ends up paying the price in the long run. They live somewhere in New York. Their neighborhood is a sea of troubled individuals who haven't found their calling in life so they patrol the streets for people who have done good things in their life and make them feel horrible. Jesse is a very gifted artist because he can make excellent art work but I'm better. Every few pages there are beautiful depictions of every chapter and things that Jesse and Rise have gone through. I think that it is helpful to see and not read everything that happens in a book so that you are better at depicting trials in the book. Walter Dean Myers tells the story from the first-person perspective of Jesse. Jesse struggles trying to save the life of his blood brother. The tone is worried and matter-of-fact, as in that the narrator has no control, just saying what's going on. He notices changes but feels powerless to stop things. The style is to-the-point, direct, and matter-of-fact. Walter Dean Myers tells the story from the first-person perspective of Jesse. Jesse struggles trying to save the life of his blood brother. The tone is worried and matter-of-fact, as in that the narrator has no control, just saying what's going on. He notices changes but feels powerless to stop things. The style is to-the-point, direct, and matter-of-fact. In the book AOMDB it is a fairly believable novel because all of the events that happened in this book could actually happen to anybody else. We root for Jesse's success and for him to go to college. As a reader you want him to leave Rise because his is a bad person. As a reader I was frustrated by the fact that Rise became a drug dealer because he is the second main character and was a bad influence for Jesse. As I was reading I was hoping that the characters would stop fighting and there wouldn't be any gangs. At the end there is a sad empty feeling that the book has at the end. Somebody looses their life for what they believe in which is everyone deserves a second chance. This book is fairly easy to read but it has some hard parts. The message in the story is that life takes things from you to show you how important little things are. We also learn that crack is whack and say nope to dope.

To pick up a book written by Walter Dean Myers is to expect nothing less than literary greatness. Among his many accolades, MONSTER was the first winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, a National Book Award Finalist, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book. He has received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults and has penned over 70 award-winning books intended for a wide age range of readers, from picture books to teen novels. His son, Christopher Myers, is a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Honor recipient, and has illustrated a number of breathtaking books for young readers, including his solo effort entitled BLACK CAT. In AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY DEAD BROTHER, it is therefore not surprising that the father and son team has once again created a true-to-life story that is profoundly moving and one that boldly addresses many of the prevailing conflicts confronting urban youth today. As in many of Dean Myers's other books, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY DEAD BROTHER opens with a bang. Fifteen-year-old Jesse and his friends C.J. and seventeen-year-old Rise are attending a funeral of one of their own from their Harlem neighborhood who was recently gunned down in a drive-by shooting. Understandably, the mood in the church is quite somber and the three boys are faced once again with the reality of living --- and dying --- in the 'hood. After the funeral, the boys separate from their parents and go to the park to hang out. In a rare moment of clarity, Rise says what's on all of their minds: "You know, it's hard when somebody gets wasted. Bobby G was good people and everything, but that's why you have to make your life special every day. You never know when your time is up." As the novel progresses, the idea of living each day to its fullest weighs differently on each of the boys. Jesse, the artist of the bunch (and the book's narrator), seems to be the most vulnerable of the group. His sensitive and boyish character lends a restive beauty to the story's telling as his urge to "fit in" ebbs and flows along with his struggle to determine what's "right" over what's "cool." C.J. is more stand-offish and prefers to spend most of his time away from the fray in church, playing the organ and expressing himself through his music. Rise is clearly the most brazen of the three, both verbally and physically, and tests his destiny daily by taunting rival neighborhood gangs, dealing coke on the street, and flaunting his carefree attitude by wearing flashy jewelry, driving fancy cars, and sporting a colorful (i.e. profane) vocabulary. When viewed side-by-side, the lives and philosophies of these three boys are the backbone of the story and create a convincing snapshot of what it feels like to be a teenager in Harlem. Overall, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY DEAD BROTHER is exactly what it sounds like: an in-your-face tale of growing up --- and getting by --- in the inner-city. In Walter Dean Myers's capable hands, this book powerfully addresses issues of race and class, life and death, with a rigor and strength many readers won't find in other contemporary offerings. Young boys especially will relate to Jesse's voice and will of course find solace in Christopher Myers's commanding renderings. --- Reviewed by Alexis Burling

A high school teacher once told Walter Dean Myers to keep on writing, no matter what—“It’s what you do,” He dropped out of high school, but remembered what his teacher said and wrote many excellent books---including this one! The art work by his son, Christopher, is excellent, too!

This story has a very violent theme while one child is planning on being a drug dealer, and everyone feels he is wrong. A slightly slow moving story, but deeply touching.