Dope Sick
By: Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers
- Born August 12,1937 in West Virginia, Marthinsburg
- His mother died when he was 2 , while giving birth to another child.
- A good friend of his mother adopted him and then he later substituted "Dean" for his middle name in honor of the foster family who raised him.
- His family was poor
- Myers suffered from a speech impediment, when other kids made fun of him he would sometimes hit them.
- Myers dropped out of Stuyvesant High School , on his seventeenth birthday he enlisted in the Army, He served three years.
- Myers had written dozens of books over the years, including biographies of Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.
- Died July 1,2014
Walter Dean Myers Biography
About the book
Lil J is running away from the cops because he was involved in a drug deal that ended with him shooting an under cover cop. He was shot in the arm , as he was walking to escape he came to an abandon apartment building. In the second floor, going up the stairs he saw a chair and an old television. Lil J also sees a man sitting on the chair but can't really see his face. His Name is Kelly, he uses a television remote to show Lil J of his past and future. In the book Lil J asks Kelly if he has security cameras hooked up the television. Kelly responds by saying its a movie. Lil J can't understand what is really going on. Kelly shows him the future and Lil J sees himself on the roof of the building pointing a gun at himself. Lil J yells to Kelly to stop. Kelly asks him "If you could change anything about the past what would it be?". Lil J watches his past on the television and tries to figure out what he could change.The theme of the book is that he blames everyone but himself. That he had been angry that he was failing school and was going to end up like one of those mans who sits on the corners and watch life pass them. He blames society of him failing out of school and him using drugs. He reflects on everything bad that he has done throughout his life. At the end of the book Lil 'J gives kelly the "nine" ready to give up and go outside the building. Kelly goes to the window opens it and shoots down the street. Lil 'J was scared and very confused. He didn't know what was going on, he couldn't think, he could move, he couldn't do anything, He crouched down near the chair and graved the remote control. Lil ' J wanted to go back to when he was with Rico. "Take the whole day back. Can you do that?"(g176). Kelly responds back by saying that it wasn't going to make his life better. Kelly tells Lil ' J to get some rest. Kelly went out the door and Lil 'J heard some shots. He was very confused, he saw someone being put into an ambulance. Night came and Lil' J left the building. Later that night Lil' J passed by a stand and there was a television. It was the news, " A SWAT team took down a teenager identified by the neighborhood by street people only as Kelly."
https://youtu.be/N6R-RuuFHQGY