Four stars because of it's honesty. If you are a suburbia dweller, I would recommend this book over ANY movie to show you the harsh realities of inner-city life. It's very disheartening to see the lack of respect for life throughout the book, but it doesn't make any attempt to cause the reader to be judgmental. Like I stated earlier, it's just brutal honesty. Cody Scott narrates a definite read for anyone that would like to see a side of humanity (and sections of the United States) that are often ignored.

The Autobiography "Monster" was written by a man named Sanyika Shakur is about a kid growing up in L.A. as a gang member. When Shakur was graduating from the sixth grade he got expelled from flipping of the school camera in a picture. His name at this time was what is mother gave him, Kody Scott. After he got kicked out of school he started to hang out with some older gangsters. Monster is a very exciting book from the very first page until the very last page. It goes into very good detail about what it is like to be gangster in L.A. at the time in which gangs were starting to double by the day. Monster shows to people the inside track of the life of a teenage member. It puts a fear in some eyes showing how easy it is to kill some one and get away with it. Kids can walk into gang territory with the wrong color of clothes and get shot just for that. Monster has some knowledge of inside some of California toughest jails.

I think every kid that is thinking or in a gang should read this book. Where I live There are not any gangs, though I know some bangers from nearby cities. Last year I was what you called a wanna-be banger. I had only seen movies and heard stories of what banging is like. As I matured I grew out of this phase. Though I still thought it would be cool to move to Boston or something and join a gang. After reading this extremly touching book I turned my head the other way and felt bad for kids that live in inner-cities that HAVE TO bang to survive. I feel that every young teen that thinks banging is cool should read this and see the trouble banging put Sanyika through. I personally would like to meet this legend and give him a lot of credit for coming out of jail and staying strong, and not banging.

Read this book if it is the last thing you do on earth, it will make you change your mind tremendously and really make you think. This book has inspired me in so many ways.

Sanyika, thank you.