The last book I read this summer was Monster (The Graphic Novel) by Walter Dean Myers (adapted by Guy A. Sims). This book is about a 16 year old, Steve Harmon who is on trial for felony murder. Monster took place mostly in the courtroom with some scenes in jail, and occasional flashbacks. What was meant just to be a robbery of a drugstore turned into a murder scene that Steve Harmon happened to get into the middle of. Throughout the entire book, multiple witnesses come in and out the courtroom explaining their side of the story.
This book brings up many of the issues present in our society today. Mass incarceration is the imprisonment of large numbers of people, disproportionately African Americans and Latinos in the United States. This book confronts mass incarceration head on, giving the perspective of a young black man on trial. The prosecutor uses the word Monster to describe the main character, Steve Harmon, in an attempt to dehumanize him. I can imagine this vocabulary against people on trial is used a lot in an attempt to make defendants look guilty in the jury's eyes.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes graphic novel about crime, and people who care about criminal injustice issues.
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