# 18 Monster

Myers, W. D., Sims, G. A., & Anyabwile, D. (2015). Monster. New York, NY: HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins.

This story is about a 16 year old boy, Steve Harmon, who is unjustly accused of murder and robbery. His story is written in a film script format because he's a film student  and he believes this would make a good film. Even though Steve is afraid of the outcome of the trail he continues seeing everything in a film format. The Prosecutor is trying to convince the jury that he was involved in this horrific crime because of his association to the two criminals who obviously committed the crime. For Steve he knows he's innocent and he wishes he could tell the jury his side of the story, but Steve understands that its up to his lawyer and him to follow the rules in order to fall into a plea of not guilty. As the story continues Steve Harmon is finally released and he greatly is relieved to be off the hook.

I wasn't a fan of this story because of how it was formatted like it was a movie script. Regardless, of how the story was written I liked the character, Steve, and how he kept strong throughout his stay in prison. While listening to the audible version it made me really feel for Steve's story, because he was mistakenly accused through his association with the neighborhood criminals. Even though, he made small talk with the accused it ultimately made him a suspect and I even think it also had to due with his race. It still boggles my mind that we as people still can be racist and assume things about one another's race that aren't necessarily true. This story goes to prove that we still have a lot to learn about justice and how to treat each other without judgement.