Update: I now have the NEW edition and the slang has been updated, so I have ZERO complaints!

Even though the African-American slang is slightly outdated, this is a fun book to read aloud to my 3rd graders each year. The creativity of the dilemmas is wonderful, and the ending always tickles my kids. I LOVE this book! Mandy Tillotson 3rd grade teacher (since 1968) Fairborn, Ohio

I read this book as a young child and was enthralled. Harry's dreams of finding a mate and searching for answers drew me to the library week after week. To this day, I still believe in fairies, medieval fantasies, and miracles.

If someone doesn't recommend Walter Dean Myer's book, Patrol for some type of award, let me be the first. In this time of contemplating war, this book is so appropriate, although I would not recommend it for use with students below 5th grade. This picture book made me feel what it must feel like to be a grunt on the field. Powerful!

Get it through this link and support our school at the same time:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060283637/readwritesite

"The land of my enemy has wide valleys, mountains that stretch along the far horizon, rushing brown rivers, and thick green forest. My squad of nine men are in the forest. Above me, birds twitter nervously in the treetops. Insects and small animals scurry through the underbrush, trying to avoid the crush of my combat boots. The squad leader raises his hand. We stop. The sound of my breath is soft in the morning air. Somewhere in the forest, hidden in the shadows, is the enemy. He knows I have come to kill him. He waits for me..." Walter Dean Myer's autobiographical picture book chronicles a day in the life of one soldier, on patrol, in the jungles of Viet Nam. His spare, poetic text comes alive on the page, and takes the glamor and excitement out of war as you trudge through the difficult, hot terrain, ever vigilant. "We move again. We are always moving. My legs ache. My shoulders sag. My thousand eyes look for death in the waving bamboo fields." You can feel the smooth wooden stock of the soldier's rifle, the cold sweat running down his back, the fear and trembling as shots are fired and bombs explode, and the rapid beating of his heart. "I think I see the enemy. I reload and shoot again. It is only a shadow, but I do not stop shooting. In war, shadows are enemies, too." But mostly, you feel the weariness and futility. "I am so tired. I am so very tired of this war." Ann Grifalconi's stunning, multi-media collages are evocative and gripping, and together word and art paint an eloquent and powerfully vivid portrait of the Viet Nam War. Perfect for youngsters 9-12, Patrol: An American Soldier In Vietnam is a haunting experience that shouldn't be missed, and definitely one of the best new books of 2002.

As the children's librarian in the public library, I try to read a variety of subjects for a wide range of ages. I was impressed by the poetic style and the thought that the book provoked in all the the librarians here. Fear and fatigue were so real, it was feelable to the reader. And just who was the enemy? Shocking, what the young GI realizes.

This book was turned into a movie, but like most books, it's better than the movie. It's hard to imagine that such things happened, but they really did. I'd liek to learn more about the people on the ship and thier lives once they got home and to freedom

Myers, Walter Dean (1998) Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom. New York: Dutton Children's Books and DreamWorks. 99pgs. ISBN: 0-525-45970-7. Chapter and Picture Book. Primary Topics: Slavery, Abolitionism, US Political, Legal History; Ethnicity, Morality, Diversity. Young Adult -- Grade 5-9.

This book is a marvelously drawn narrative history of the Amistad saga that begins with a contextual portrait of the Atlantic slave trade which was by 1808 illegal, though still widely practiced as this case shows. Myers traces the dramatic journey of Sengbe, a rice farmer in Mani and the future leader of the ship-board revolt from his capture by other Africans and sale to a Spanish slave-trader to the horrible Middle Passage to Cuba and the eventual landing on Long Island and capture by US Navy personal. It is in New London and New Haven, Connecticut that this case begins a near three-year legal, moral, and political conflict that touched the United States profoundly at the time and for years afterwards. Myers describes and analyzes in minute yet engrossing detail the legal battle waged between the forces of slavery and the forces of abolition in this country while never losing sight of the fascinating personalities involved. Using historic maps, engravings, and photographs, and displaying some painstaking research into primary sources (without source notes), Myers makes the case come alive and provides an engaging companion work to Spielberg's motion picture (DreamWorks owns part of the copyright), going beyond the time scope of the movie to follow many of the characters after their victorious Supreme Court case to an abolitionist community in Connecticut and eventually home to Africa. One of Africans even returned again to America to attend college!

I have no reservation using this book in a middle school or high school history class. It discusses the specific historical context in clear language that would serve as either a good introduction to the issues of slavery and abolitionism for middle school students or as a refresher and supplement for high school students of US history. It is written in a narrative style that is compelling and engaging for teens (and adults), but does not disengage when it pauses for analytical treatment of complex political or legal issues. Rather, Myers discusses many of these complex issues (especially the legal ones) in ways that simplify but do not reduce the contradictory moral issues at the heart of the story. Thus the built in tension of the story is preserved. I was compelled to read on even though I knew the ending.

Myers begins with a brief overview of the importation of slaves into the United States, describing the contradictions of the American Revolution regarding slaves and the Constitutional restriction of importing slaves into the US after 1808 as well as the international restrictions in place by that time. Britain outlawed slavery in 1787 and subsequently made treaties with other countries over the issue including one with Spain in 1817 that made exportation of slaves from Africa illegal. But because slavery itself was legal in both the US and the Spanish colonies, Myers makes clear that there was still a great deal of illegal slave trading going on. He even allows for the possibility that the slave cargo of the Amistad that revolted three days out of Havana (ostensibly bound for Puerto Principe in south-east Cuba) was in fact destined for the Carolinas to provide the rice plantations with skilled agricultural workers.

In a section discussing the economic costs and prices of boats, slaves, and provisions, Myers shows that the economic incentives were high enough to interest certain types of businessmen into risking defiance of international law by continuing the brutal enslavement of West Africans and their forced transportation to the Americas. He says, in fact, that the highest prices for young, strong laborers were being paid in the United States. These facts alone provide much fodder for classroom discussions into the nature of slavery as an economic system and lend support for critical examination of this still controversial topic and its legacies.

Myers' book has a cast of dozens of interesting historical personalities, major and minor, famous and infamous. Among the famous and infamous were John Quincy Adams (who argued on behalf of the Africans to the Supreme Court) and Roger Tawney (sitting on that Court) who would later author the Dred Scott decision. The roles and positions of many abolitionists involved in the case are described from Robert Purvis and Rev. James W.C. Pennington to William Lloyd Garrison and Lewis Tappan. In examining the abolitionist movement as it publicized and championed the Amistad captives from the moment of their capture to their eventual return to Africa, Myers depicts a diverse movement of reformers and radicals, some of whom were not opposed to using the Africans for political ends beyond their own personal fates, whether it was proselytizing Christianity or attempting to set legal precedents in their quest to reform slavery out of existence. Again to Myers credit, he shows them as they were historically in all their contradictions.

As Myers writes towards the end of the book, "Perhaps the most important aspect of the efforts of Lewis Tappan, Austin F. Williams, Joshua Leavitt, the other abolitionists, as well as the attorneys involved was that they allowed the world to see the Africans as human beings." Likewise, he describes in personalizing, humanizing detail, the principle protagonists of this historic drama: Sengbe, Kali, Kague, Margru, Foone, Burna, and others, who by their words, actions, and prayers demanded and pleaded and fought to be "given free."

I was blown away by this book. I found it so moving. There was such a breath of sweetness, longing and nostalgia about the poems. Coupled with the incredible humanity and realness (for lack of a better word) of the fascinating family photos, the first rate book design, and the elegant, silky feel of the cover and pages, it is a book to be savored, pondered and read and re-read to children at bedtime. The mother-child bond is celebrated so beautifully, so authentically. I really think this book deserves a major book award. Caldecott. Whatever. It's very unusual and a real jewel. Kudo's to Walter Dean Myers and to the book designer.

I stumbled across this book and was intrigued by the beautiful pictures of the children. What was even more special was the fact that the pictures were from families around the world. The set up of the book was very well laid out. The verses were tender and full of joyful statements. When you think of children it always brings a smile to your face and that is exactly what this book did for me.

To have so many people care about you as much as Sarah's do for her is something that one can only dream of.

That ,was the most spectacular book I've ever read.It's called , 18 Pine St.No.10 .This book was created by Walter Dean Myer. The setting in this story took place in Brooklyn,NY. A real fictional setting. Although tis book is fictional , the charectors seemed so real. They had real live drama. Plus all the action was described so well. I loved it. I was so happ with th ending.

This book really captures the heart, the mind, and the troubles of Malcolm X and society in the 1960's. The beautiful illustrations are wonderful at expressing complex emotions and complement the words of Walter Dean Myers extemely well. This book is fabulous as children seek to understand the complexities of those turbulent times.

This is perhaps the best kids book I have ever read. It gives the adult reader a chance to work on their many character voices while relating a tale of trickery with a Jamaican flavor. My kids loved it.

this should taught in class rooms to show what is wrong with the victim mentality in this country.

Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary was about Malcolm X and his struggle to end racism in the United States. Malcolm X was born with the name Malcolm little. Growing up was a hard time for Malcolm, his father was killed when Malcolm was very young, and after that point his family never had enough money. He went to live with his sister when he was a teenager, and after that became a street hustler. He was arrested and was sentenced to ten years in prison; it was there that he learned about the teachings of Islam. When he was released from prison, he began attending meetings of the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad. He later helped the Nation of Islam to start many new temples, one of which he was the leader. He began to disagree with Elijah Muhammad on some things. Later he split from the Nation of Islam, and made a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca. After he returned to the United States, he formed a new group called Afro-American Unity. He then began working with groups of all races to achieve equality for African-Americans....I thought that this was a great book, and really enjoyed reading it; it is one of the most interesting books that I have read. I recommend it to anybody who will take the time to read it.

This is a book about Malcolm X and what he has accomplished in his life. This book tells how he inherited the name Malcolm X. It tells about all his encounters with other famous leaders including Martin Luther King JR., Elijah Muhammad, and others. This book tells about his family, how he became an Islam ruler, and what he did to try to make the world a better place. I recommend this book to any readers interested in the life of Malcolm X or readers that are just interested in a good biography.