Multi-Modal Literacies: Pleasure Reading: Monster (Walter Dean Myers)

I finally was able to get the chance to get in some of my own reading and it's been very refreshing for me.  I think it's important for people to read books on their own so they can just enjoy reading and be exposed to a variety of different texts.  Also, as future language arts teachers I think it's important for us to be familiar with a variety of different texts to recommend and discuss with our students.  Last week, I read Monster by Walter Dean Myers.  I think this is a really good book to read for a multi-modal class because it's written in such a unique format.  The book tells the story of a sixteen-year-old boy who is wrongly accused of murder.  The book chronicles the main character, Stephen's experiences in jail and his murder trial.  While the story is interesting enough, it's also written in a unique format.  The book starts out with Steve's diary entries in jail, then switches over to a script of a movie he is writing to chronicle his experiences.  The character uses the movie script as a coping mechanism throughout his ordeal.  The entire book is written in journal entries or a movie script.  There is no strict narrative which makes this really interesting.  This is just another example of how different types of texts influence people in different ways.  I think this would be a great book for young adults to read because it's an example of a different format of literature, and it also has important themes like the goodness in humanity, corruption of the justice system, race issues, etc.  I'm definitely planning on having a copy of Monster in my classroom library. I'm also providing a link to Walter Dean Myers' website for more information about Monster and his other books.  http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/index.html