Biography Wordhunt
Fill in the blanks with words from the list below.


Walter Dean Myers began his writing career while in the Army. He entered a contest and won with his first book Where Does the Day Go. Although Myers won the contest, it did not _______1_______ him into national _______2_______ . He submitted the first chaper of his next book, Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff to an agent, who called him up and wanted more of the story. Myers made it up over the telephone and it _______3_______ him as a professional writer.

Because he grew up in Harlem, Myers knows first-hand about peer-pressure, drugs and gangs. His critically _____4______ novel Monster describes the juvenile justice system. Many adolescents are now being tried as adults and he wanted to give a teens' ____5____ on the system.

Monster is not wirtten in the normal format. It reads more like a journal. The main character, Stephen, has ______6_____ a crime. He attempts to ____7______ himself from the deed by writing about himself in journal format and then writes about the crime as if it were a film. Myers researched the justice system for the book, so that it would sound ______8_____ to his readers.

 Myers was born in Martinsburg, West Virginiain 1937. His mother died when he was three. Because they were very poor, his father gave him to foster parents, the Deans, who lived in Harlem, New York. La Marqueta, in East Harlem and playing basketball in Morningside Park were two of his favorite places where he would hang out and play basketball until dark. Myers is an ____9____basketball player to this day.

Myers was a ____ 10 ____ problem in school due to a severe speech difficulty. No one could understand anything he said, which was frustrating and he responded by being angry.

One of his teachers thought that if he started writing he could also practice ____11____ by saying the words outloud as he wrote something. His writing was about the only thing he was praised for in school.

Myers attended the City College of the City University of New York and has over 30 critically acclaimed books.

 Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff is about an 18 year old boy who reviews the last five years of his life to when his family moved to Harlem. The use of Black English ______ 12____ the story, lends authenticity to it.

Another award winner, Fallen Angels, tells the story of a young man's tour of duty in Vietnam. It is _______13 ____ one of the most powerful Vietnam War stories of 1989.

Slam!, another award winner, is about 16 year old Greg "Slam" Harris. He is great on the basketball court but isn't doing so well in school. When Greg gets in trouble with one of his teachers, he blows up. This forces him to _______14______ his life and what the future may or may hold for him.

Walter Dean Myers is a ______15____ writer. He writes about what he knows-his background, which includes Harlem, Basketball, the army, and his love of history.

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