Walter Dean Myers by Denise M. Jordan

Author:Denise M. Jordan [Jordan, Denise M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4645-1143-1
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2013-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

MORE BOOKS, MORE AWARDS

The 1980s brought more changes, more books, and more awards. Some of the changes occurred in Myers’s family. His daughter, Karen, had graduated from high school and then attended Queens College in New York. After a while, Karen left school and got married. In 1981, she gave Myers his first grandchild, a baby boy named Brandon. Michael Dean was in his last year of high school and trying to decide his future. Christopher was in elementary school.

Myers had taken trips to South America (1976), Northern Africa (1979), and Egypt (1982). He carefully collected information on the people, the lands, and the legends on each of these trips. In the early 1980s, some of this material became the basis for several books. The Legend of Tarik, published in 1981, was set in Morocco. Tales of a Dead King, published in 1983, was set in Egypt. Background material for The Nicholas Factor, also published in 1983, came from a trip Myers and Christopher had taken to Peru.

The publication of The Legend of Tarik, Tales of a Dead King, and The Nicholas Factor seemed to indicate a different trend in Myers’s writing. This was the beginning of his fantasy and adventure books. These books were not set in Harlem; they had exotic settings in faraway places. Another major change was the racial background of the characters. Prior to this time, Myers’s main characters were usually black. However, in Tales of a Dead King and The Nicholas Factor, the main characters are two white teenagers.

These books were very well received, and two of the three won awards. The Legend of Tarik was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults in 1981 and received the Notable Children’s Trade Book in Social Studies Citation in 1982. Tales of a Dead King won the New Jersey Institute of Technology Authors Award (1983).

Myers did not abandon the youth of Harlem when he wrote the adventure stories. In 1981, the same year the Legend of Tarik came out, Hoops was published. Won’t Know Till I Get There followed in 1982. Motown and Didi: A Love Story and The Outside Shot, a sequel to Hoops, were published in 1984.

Hoops and The Outside Shot are basketball stories. They deal with the world of “prime time” basketball players, basketball championships, and relationships. Myers describes the temptations and the problems that go along with being a player of this caliber.

In Hoops, Myers introduces Lonnie Jackson. Lonnie and his mother do not get along very well; he feels she is always on his back about something. He will graduate from high school in a few weeks. What will he do then? The chance of college seems remote. The only thing he really feels he has going for him is basketball—he has a great game, but he and the coach do not always agree on how the game should be played.

Lonnie’s team is in a championship tournament, and some very shady characters do not want the team to win. These

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