Walter Dean Myers: Stories That Opened Doors

Walter Dean Myers loved books from an early age. Yet as a young reader, he rarely found stories about people and neighborhoods like those he knew. When he grew up, he helped change that. His books brought the lives of young people, especially Black young people, into libraries and classrooms across the country.

Myers was born on August 12, 1937, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. After his mother died, he went to live with Florence and Herbert Dean in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City. He grew up surrounded by Harlem’s busy streets, music, and variety of people. Those surroundings would later appear in his writing.

Florence Dean read to him when he was young, even though she had not had many opportunities for schooling herself. Myers became an eager reader. Books gave him access to places and experiences beyond his neighborhood. He also began writing poems and stories of his own.

School was not always easy for him. Myers had difficulty with speech and sometimes got into fights. Even so, one of his teachers recognized his talent for writing and encouraged him to keep working at it. He left high school without graduating and joined the Army when he was 17. After his military service, he worked at a variety of jobs while continuing to write.