Author: Walter Dean Myers
Title: Lock Down
Illustrator: None
Genre: Chapter Book
Subgenre: Realistic Fiction
Theme: A teen boy wonders if he will ever be free again.
Primary and Secondary Characters: Reese, Toon, and Mr. Hooft
Awards: Coretta King Scott Author Award
Publishing Company: Amistad
Date of Publication: 2010
Brief Summary and How to Use With Students:
Reese is sent to Progress Juvenile Facility after taking a prescription pad. While at Progress Reese hopes to get out early but after his friend, Toon, is jumped he soon realizes why most people in progress only progress to real jail. The longer Reese stays in Progress the more he turns to fighting to feel free. He soon is given a second chance and possibly a ticket out when he joins a work program at a senior citizens’ home. The job does not go over as easily as Reese would have liked though when he must find a way to convince Mr. Hooft he really can be a decent person.
This book is directed towards an older audience. The way the book is set up would make it a great read for a book list for an advanced middle school or high school class. It can be used to go over conflict and plot and also character analysis. An example is going over why Reese fights. He fights to feel free which leads to person against person but also person against self because of his thoughts on fighting. Reese a lot of the times fights to defend someone else. The link below provides a video made book trailer for Walter Dean Myers Lock Down. It could possibly be shown to gain the interest of the class before they begin reading the book.
