Lockdown

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers
2011 Coretta Scott King Author Award
2010 National Book Award Finalist

Exceptionally great book in my opinion. This is a great literal example of the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"; I never would have picked this up off the library shelf if I wasn't on this mission to read all the Coretta Scott King award books. It's called Lockdown. It has a photo of handcuffs on the cover. It just didn't look like my kind of book.  I loved it.

Walter Dean Myers knows what he is doing. He has won Coretta Scott King awards or honors 9 times, the Newbery honors twice and the Caldecott honors once, The Jane Adams Award twice, and the Christopher award once. Walter Dean Myers knows what he is talking about: he grew up in Harlem, dropped out of school, and started writing seriously at night after working all day as a construction worker. He tends to write about African American teenagers dealing with inner city issues, and this book is no exception.

The story is told in the voice of a fourteen year old boy named Reese who is in a juvenile detention facility. You meet the other kids serving their time at "Progress Center" and a few of the staff as well. The story is gritty and I would recommend it for teens and not for younger children. The author does a stunning job of showing Resses' perspective on all that happens. You actually understand why he repeatedly gets in fights, you experience the view from the detention cell,  you feel a little relieved when the facility goes on "lockdown" because as Reese points out, "When I first got to Progress, it freaked me out to be locked in a room and unable to get out. But after a while, when you got to thinking about it, you knew nobody could get in, either." 


One of the threads that I found most compelling was Reese's agony over whether or not to plead guilty for something he never did because the detectives presented it as an "opportunity" to get less time, and he wasn't confident that he'd get a fair trial. 

Reese gets selected to participate in a trial work release program where he is taken three times a week to a senior care facility and helps out. He spends time caring for an elderly white man who is pretty prickly and gruff, but Reese listens to his stories, put's up with the old man calling him a criminal, and over time they build a friendship.

The story follows Reese to a year after his release. Never downplaying the precariousness of his situation even with all he's learned and been through, but definitely ending on a hopeful note.

I've now read all the 2011 Coretta Scott King books, and it's an impressive batch of books over all.
One Crazy Summer,  Dave the Potter: Artis, Poet, Slave, Zora and Me, Lockdown, Ninth Ward, Yummy: The Last Days of a South Side Shorty, Jimi Sounds Like  Rainbow: A Story of Young Jimi Hendrix. Go read them!

You'll enjoy a visit to Walter Dean Myer's website:
Walter Dean Myers Biography

And to this site Walter Dean Myers' Second Chance Initiative | Resources for Parents and Educators of Kids in Grades 4 - 12 | All About Adolescent Literacy | AdLit.org where you can learn more about his books and more about The Second Chance Initiative, a project the author started to reach out to teens and help them make better decisions. I love any successful person who then works to extend their success to others.

Here is also an interview with the author from the National Book Award site: Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown - 2010 National Book Award YPL Finalist, The National Book Foundation

I'm looking forward to reading more of his books!