ARTICLE: How Walter Dean Myers Taught Me to Stop Writing White

[Ryan Goble]

Great article from Medium...

Read the full article HERE.

[Shirley Durr]

Thanks for sharing this article. I also wept openly in my classroom when I read of Walter Dean Myers' death. I was teaching a summer class and my students were not present in the classroom at the time but it wouldn't have mattered. I did not call for the tears; they flowed for the loss of a writer who had meant so much to my students and, consequently, for me. He was the writer who made readers of my male students who were proud to never be caught reading. I introduced them to Scorpions but on their own they found Monster, Slam!, Hoops, and other novels. Because they loved these novels, the guys on their on went on to introduce me to  Fallen Angels and  Bad Boy. When I let students choose their own books for our poetry unit, they let me know that Myers had also written poetry; our school library had a single copy of Harlem. When they argued over who would have that book, the librarian ordered more.

Last year and now, it saddens me to think that this gifted man will not write more books that will surprise me and delight my students. But maybe there are others that I have yet to discover!