Walter Dean Myers books

Walter Dean Myers was an award-winning American author who wrote over 100 books for children and young adults, known for depicting the experiences of young Black people in urban settings.

18 Pine St. Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Sort of Sisters 1992 Buy
The Party 1992 Buy
The Prince 1992 Buy
The Test 1992 Buy
Sky Man 1993 Buy
Fashion by Tasha 1993 Buy
Intensive Care 1993 Buy
Dangerous Games 1993 Buy
Cindy’s Baby 1993 Buy
Kwame’s Girl 1994 Buy
The Diary 1994 Buy
Taking Sides 1994 Buy

Anthologies

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Funny You Should Ask 1992 Buy
Don’t Give Up the Ghost 1993 Buy
When I Was Your Age: Original Stories about Growing Up 1996 Buy
No Easy Answers 1997 Buy
From One Experience to Another 1997 Buy
Places I Never Meant To Be 1999 Buy
Big City Cool: Short Stories About Urban Youth 2002 Buy
Every Man for Himself 2005 Buy
Friends 2005 Buy
This Family Is Driving Me Crazy 2009 Buy
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick 2011 Buy
Pick-Up Game: A Full Day of Full Court 2011 Buy
Taking Aim: Power and Pain, Teens and Guns 2015 Buy

Arrow Adventures Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Adventure in Granada 1985 Buy
Hidden Shrine 1985 Buy
Ambush in Amazon 1986 Buy
Duel in the Desert 1986 Buy

Collections

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Brown Angels 1993 Buy
Glorious Angels 1995 Buy
The Case of the Missing Ruby and Other Stories 1996 Buy
Harlem 1997 Buy
145th Street 2000 Buy
A Time To Love 2003 Buy
New York Draft Riot 2009 Buy
What They Found 2009 Buy
Here in Harlem 2011 Buy

Cruisers Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Cruisers 2010 Buy
Checkmate 2011 Buy
A Star Is Born 2012 Buy
The Cruisers a star is born 2012 N/A
Oh, Snap! 2013 Buy

Monster Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Monster 1999 Buy
Potwór 1999 N/A
Monster: A Graphic Novel 2015 Buy
Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 2 1996 N/A
The Get Over 2013 Buy
The Get Overis a short story in the series. - N/A
Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 3 1994 N/A
Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 4 2008 N/A
Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 5 2008 N/A
Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 6 2008 N/A
Monster: Perfect Edition, Vol. 9 2008 N/A

My Name Is America Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Journal of James Edmond Pease 1998 Buy
The Journal of William Thomas Emerson: A Revolutionary War Patriot, Boston, Massachusetts ~ 1774 1998 N/A
The Journal of James Edmond Pease: A Civil War Union Soldier, Virginia ~ 1863 1998 N/A
The Journal of William Thomas Emerson 1998 Buy
The Journal of Joshua Loper 1999 Buy
The Journal of Joshua Loper: A Black Cowboy, The Chisholm Trail ~ 1871 1999 N/A
The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins 1999 Buy
The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier, Normandy, France ~ 1944 1999 N/A
The Journal of Ben Uchida 1999 Buy
The Journal of Sean Sullivan: A Transcontinental Railroad Worker, Nebraska and Points West ~ 1867 1999 N/A
The Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559 Mirror Lake Internment Camp, California ~ 1942 1999 N/A
The Journal of Sean Sullivan 1999 Buy
The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce 2000 Buy
The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung: A Chinese Miner, California ~ 1852 2000 N/A
The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce: A Pilgrim Boy, Plymouth ~ 1620 2000 N/A
The Journal of Otto Peltonen 2000 Buy
The Journal of Augustus Pelletier 2000 Buy
The Journal of Augustus Pelletier: The Lewis and Clark Expedition ~ 1804 2000 N/A
The Journal of Otto Peltonen: A Finnish Immigrant, Hibbing, Minnesota ~ 1905 2000 N/A
The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds 2001 Buy
The Journal of Biddy Owens 2001 Buy
The Journal of Biddy Owens: The Negro Leagues, Birmingham, Alabama ~ 1948 2001 N/A
On This Long Journey: The Journal of Jesse Smoke 2001 Buy
The Journal of Jesse Smoke: A Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears ~ 1838 2001 N/A
The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds: The Donner Party Expedition ~ 1846 2001 N/A
The Journal of C.J. Jackson 2002 Buy
The Journal of C.J. Jackson: A Dust Bowl Migrant, Oklahoma to California, 1935 2002 N/A
The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty 2002 Buy
The Journal of Jedediah Barstow 2002 Buy
The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty: United States Marine Corps, Khe Sanh, Vietnam ~ 1968 2002 N/A
The Journal of Jedediah Barstow: An Emigrant On The Oregon Trail, Overland ~ 1845 2002 N/A
The Journal of Finn Reardon 2003 Buy
The Journal of Finn Reardon: A Newsie, New York City ~ 1899 2003 N/A
The Journal of Rufus Rowe 2003 Buy
The Journal of Rufus Rowe: A Witness to the Battle of Fredericksburg, Bowling Green, Virginia ~ 1862 2003 N/A
The Journal of Brian Doyle 2004 Buy
The Journal of Brian Doyle: A Greenhorn on an Alaskan Whaling Ship, The Florence ~ 1874 2004 N/A
The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung / Staking a Claim 2013 Buy

Non-Fiction

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The World of Work 1975 Buy
Social Welfare 1976 Buy
Now Is Your Time! 1991 Buy
A Place Called Heartbreak 1992 Buy
Young Martins Promise 1992 Buy
Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary 1993 Buy
One More River To Cross 1995 Buy
Toussaint L’Ouverture 1996 Buy
The Greatest 1997 Buy
Amistad 1998 Buy
Angel to Angel 1998 Buy
At Her Majesty’s Request 1999 Buy
Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly 2000 Buy
The Blues of Flats Brown 2000 Buy
Bad Boy 2001 Buy
Patrol 2002 Buy
Blues Journey 2003 Buy
I’ve Seen the Promised Land 2003 Buy
USS Constellation 2004 Buy
Antarctica 2004 Buy
The Harlem Hellfighters 2005 Buy
Ida B. Wells 2008 Buy
Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champion 2009 Buy
We Are America 2011 Buy
Just Write: Here’s How! 2012 Buy
An African Princess 2014 Buy

Picture Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Golden Serpent 1980 Buy
Mr. Monkey and the Gotcha Bird 1984 Buy
The Dragon Takes a Wife 1995 Buy
How Mr. Monkey Saw the Whole World 1996 Buy
Jazz 2008 Buy
Amiri & Odette: A Love Story 2009 Buy
Looking Like Me 2009 Buy
Looking for the Easy Life 2011 Buy
Frederick Douglass 2017 Buy

Short Stories/Novellas

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Pirate 2011 Buy
Tags 2013 Buy
Solar Storm Rising(As:) 2019 Buy

Standalone Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Dancers 1972 Buy
Fly, Jimmy, Fly! 1974 Buy
Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff 1975 Buy
Victory For Jamie 1977 Buy
Brainstorm 1977 Buy
It Ain’t All for Nothin' 1978 Buy
The Young Landlords 1979 Buy
The Black Pearl and the Ghost 1980 Buy
The Legend of Tarik 1981 Buy
Hoops 1981 Buy
Won’t Know ‘Til I Get There 1982 Buy
Mojo and the Russians 1982 Buy
Tales of a Dead King 1983 Buy
The Nicholas Factor 1983 Buy
The Outside Shot 1984 Buy
Motown and Didi 1984 Buy
Sweet Illusions 1986 Buy
Crystal 1987 Buy
Me, Mop, and the Moondance Kid 1988 Buy
Fallen Angels 1988 Buy
Scorpions 1988 Buy
The Mouse Rap 1990 Buy
The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner 1992 Buy
Somewhere in the Darkness 1992 Buy
Mop, Moondance and the Nagasaki Knights 1992 Buy
Darnell Rock Reporting 1994 Buy
The Glory Field 1994 Buy
Shadow of the Red Moon 1995 Buy
Slam! 1996 Buy
Three Swords for Granada 2002 Buy
Handbook for Boys 2002 Buy
The Beast 2003 Buy
Fighter 2003 Buy
The Dream Bearer 2003 Buy
Shooter 2004 Buy
Autobiography of My Dead Brother 2005 Buy
Street Love 2006 Buy
Harlem Summer 2007 Buy
Sunrise Over Fallujah 2008 Buy
Riot 2009 Buy
Game 2009 Buy
Dope Sick 2009 Buy
Lockdown 2010 Buy
Carmen 2011 Buy
Kick 2011 Buy
All the Right Stuff 2012 Buy
Darius & Twig 2013 Buy
Invasion 2013 Buy
On a Clear Day 2014 Buy
Juba! 2015 Buy

Walter Dean Myers (1937-2014) was one of the most important American authors of books for young people. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he wrote over 100 books including novels, picture books, non-fiction, and poetry. His work centered on young Black characters in urban settings, and he was one of the first major children’s authors to consistently portray the lives and communities that many of his readers recognized as their own.

Myers grew up in Harlem, and that neighborhood shaped much of his writing. His novels like Fallen Angels, Monster, and Scorpions dealt honestly with poverty, violence, and the justice system while showing young people finding strength and identity. He won the Coretta Scott King Award five times and received two Newbery Honors. In 2012, he was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Walter Dean Myers written?

Walter Dean Myers has written 180 books across eleven series.

What was Walter Dean Myers's first book?

Walter Dean Myers’s first book is The Dancers, published in 1972.

What awards did Walter Dean Myers win?

Walter Dean Myers won the Coretta Scott King Award five times, two Newbery Honors (for Scorpions and Somewhere in the Darkness), and was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature in 2012. His novel Monster was the first winner of the Michael L. Printz Award.

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