NEW YORK (AP) — Walter Dean Myers, a best-selling and prolific children’s author and tireless champion of literacy and education, has died. He was 76.
Publisher HarperCollins says Myers died Tuesday after a brief illness.
His books included “Monster” and “Lockdown” Myers was a onetime troublemaker who dropped out of high school. He spent much of his adult life writing realistic and accessible stories about crime, war and life in the streets.
He was a three-time National Book Award nominee and in 2012-13 served as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, a position created in part by the Library of Congress. Well before that, he traveled the country, visiting schools and prisons and advocating books. His encounters with students and inmates even inspired some of his own books.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less