It upholds and gives special place to their humanity."
In response to the need for good children's literature for and about blacks, Myers has published to date more than fifteen picture books and novels for young adults. His stories deal mainly with the tragedies and triumphs of growing up in a difficult environment.
Walter Myers was born on 12 August 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where he lived until he moved with his family to New York. A graduate of the City College of New York, Myers also attended the Writers' Workshop sponsored by John O. Killens in New York. He was employed as a senior trade book editor for the Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Company in New York. In 1977 he took up writing on a full-time basis.
In his first children's book, Where Does the Day Go" (1969), illustrated by Leo Carty, a group of children from several ethnic backgrounds and a sensitive black father discuss their ideas about where the day goes. The Dancers (1972), Myers's second children's work, is a simple tale about Michael, a black boy, whose fascination with ballet leads to a cultural exchange between blacks and whites.
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