Myers, Walter Dean. Lockdown. New York: HarperCollins/Amistad, 2010.
Audience: Middle School, 12+
Genre: Urban/Street Fiction, Teen Problem Novel, Boy Book
Topics of Focus: Teen Boys, Incarceration, Choices, Violence, Judicial System
Red Flags: Violence, Suicide, Abuse
True to form, best-selling author Walter Dean Myers once again delivers a punch with his economical novel, Lockdown. Set primarily in a juvenile detention center in the Bronx, the first-person narration of Reese Anderson shows the reader the gritty system inside a jail cell.
Serving a thirty-eight month sentence for stealing pharmacy prescription pads at age 13, Reese learns how to negotiate the small group of powerful, nasty, and egocentric inmates on his cell bloc. They all seem to be focusing on their next move up the system ladder—transition to an adult detention center upstate. Reese knows how to take care of himself in the moment with this small cast of brutal fellow offenders and correction system employees, yet he hasn’t figured out how to live and plan into a healthy and productive future. After two years at Progress, the facility director gives him an opportunity to participate in a work-release program at an elderly care facility called Evergreen. Reese enjoys his new freedom, responsibility, and developing friendship with an elderly man, Pieter Hooft, who has his own survival stories from imprisonment in a WWII Japanese forced-labor camp. Through his work experience and discussions with Mr. Hooft, Reese is able to look beyond himself, to think about others, to develop compassion, and to set goals for his future. Myers’s tale is not candy-coated. His protagonist doesn’t breeze through his time served. He makes mistakes and pays for them dearly. He is humiliated, beaten, betrayed, and pushed to brink of madness in solitary. Yet, like all of Myers’s characters, Reese is a survivor building personal integrity. He just needs to have a positive plan and hope in a better future.
Serving a thirty-eight month sentence for stealing pharmacy prescription pads at age 13, Reese learns how to negotiate the small group of powerful, nasty, and egocentric inmates on his cell bloc. They all seem to be focusing on their next move up the system ladder—transition to an adult detention center upstate. Reese knows how to take care of himself in the moment with this small cast of brutal fellow offenders and correction system employees, yet he hasn’t figured out how to live and plan into a healthy and productive future. After two years at Progress, the facility director gives him an opportunity to participate in a work-release program at an elderly care facility called Evergreen. Reese enjoys his new freedom, responsibility, and developing friendship with an elderly man, Pieter Hooft, who has his own survival stories from imprisonment in a WWII Japanese forced-labor camp. Through his work experience and discussions with Mr. Hooft, Reese is able to look beyond himself, to think about others, to develop compassion, and to set goals for his future. Myers’s tale is not candy-coated. His protagonist doesn’t breeze through his time served. He makes mistakes and pays for them dearly. He is humiliated, beaten, betrayed, and pushed to brink of madness in solitary. Yet, like all of Myers’s characters, Reese is a survivor building personal integrity. He just needs to have a positive plan and hope in a better future.
Myers’s story is true to form with his boy-makes-mistakes-pays-for-them-develops-into-better- (though not perfect)-more-trusting-person. As with his other books, race and class play a huge role in defining the social system which Reese must negotiate. Yet at the same time, the inclusion of Mr. Hooft’s struggles and those of other minor characters in the text help the reader to understand that everyone must face severe obstacles. It is how one deals with those challenges that truly establishes one’s character and future path.
Lockdown is a text of lower-level comprehension/vocabulary with high interest content. It will appeal to reluctant readers, both male and female. Teachers and mentors working with at-risk youth might choose it to discuss the juvenile detention system, personal choices, anger management, and resiliency.
Annotation by Denise Aulik
No comments:
Post a Comment