Autobiography of my dead brother rewards

Autobiography of My Dead Brother

Autobiography of My Dead Brother is a young adult novel by American writer Walter Dean Myers. Set in Harlem, New York, the novel follows Jesse Givens, a teenager with artistic ambitions, as his best friend, Rise, succumbs to the lure of gang culture. Autobiography of My Dead Brother, based on Myers’s own youthful experience of gang violence on the streets of Harlem, was a finalist for the National Book Award (YA division). Myers, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction books for young people, was awarded the Margaret Edwards Award, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Coretta Scott King Award (five times) before his death in

The novel opens at the funeral of Bobby Green, an African-American teenager killed in a drive-by shooting. The pastor’s eulogy makes it clear that Bobby’s death is not the first of its kind in this neighborhood. The mourners include Bobby’s friends Jesse, Rise, and C.J. (who is playing the organ). While Jesse and C.J. are horrified by the way Bobby died, Rise’s opinion is that the dead boy “went out like a man.”

The next night, Jesse, Rise, and C.J. are at a meeting of the Counts, a social club for teenage boys in

Autobiography of My Dead Brother

INTRODUCTION
PLOT SUMMARY
THEMES
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
CRITICAL OVERVIEW
CRITICISM
SOURCES

INTRODUCTION

Autobiography of My Dead Brother () is a vivid, wrenching, and hopeful look into the confusing and scary lives teen boys face in poor, violent, urban worlds. Through innovative illustrations and honest characterizations, Walter Dean Myers captures the conflicts—internal and external, hopeless and hopeful—that less-privileged Americans face pursuing the American dream. A finalist for the National Book Award in the young people's division, Autobiography of My Dead Brother explores life in a Harlem neighborhood through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Jesse Givens.

Jesse is a gifted artist whose drawings (illustrated in the book by Myers's son Christopher) are an integral part of the text. Jesse uses his art to make sense of events around him, including the deaths of several friends, drive-by shootings, the threats of gang life, and the changes in his long-time "blood brother," Rise. Jesse tries to understand what Rise has become as Rise chooses to become involved in drugs and gangs. Jesse and his friends must also walk the fine line of seeking

Autobiography of My Dead Brother Theme of Violence

More on Autobiography of My Dead Brother

Autobiography of My Dead Brother begins and ends with the funerals of teenage boys who are murdered in gang-related incidents. Several drive-bys are sandwiched in between those funerals, and Jesse's sketchbook includes drawings of photorealistic handguns and automatic weapons because these are things he sees on a regular basis. There are racist cops in the mix, too, who think shooting black children is funny. And that just touches on the violence in the streets. Violence can also occur at home—even a home like Jesse's that has parents who are (mostly) loving and supportive.

Questions About Violence

  1. Living in a neighborhood with so much violence seems to have a physical effect on Jesse. Describe these "side effects." What do they tell you about the role violence plays in his life?
  2. After Jesse's dad hits him, Jesse says that "we weren't that kind of family" (). What do you think he means?
  3. Do you see a connection between domestic violence and gang violence in the novel? Explain your answer.

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devi

Autobiography of My Dead Brother

October 6,
This book is rather depressing. It is written in first person and is about a teenage African-American boy, named Jesse, growing up in Harlem. He is a pretty good kid and is part of a club called The Counts. His best friends name is Rise, and the book documents how Rise changes and brings a lot of turmoil to the neighborhood the boys live in. Jesse is an artist and he begins drawing pictures of Rise to try to figure out what is going on with him. Rise likes the pictures and asks Jesse to write his biography. Eventually, Rise informs Jesse that he is thinking about getting into drug dealing and working with a gang. Jesse still doesn't understand what is going on, and he knows he doesn't want to be involved in what Rise is getting into. But, Jesse doesn't stand up to Rise and try to stop him either. Eventually, The Counts are called a gang in the newspaper, which causes Jesse's family to really worry about him. Rise continues to get weirder and weirder to Jesse, but he keeps writing the biography and painting his pictures. At the end of the story, Rise is caught by the police because he is suspected of shooting some guys from a gang cal

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