Student Writer: Caitlin Alice Zima

This week’s featured writer: Caitlin Alice Zima

School: Washington Middle School

Age: 12

Grade: 7

Teacher: Mrs. Sikora and Mrs. Mulligan

What have you learned in school that makes you a better writer? What I learned in school that makes me a better writer is that you need to understand who is going to be reading your writing and to answer all parts of the prompt.

What is your favorite book? My favorite book is all the books in the Little House on the Prairie series or anything involving Laura and her family and friends.

What do you like to do outside of school? What I like to do outside of school is dance. I have been a competitive dancer for 10 years. I also do acrobatics and volleyball.

Caitlin's Writing:

Walter Dean Myers’s Life

Have you ever read Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers and witnessed some bad decisions that Walter made? Some of the bad decisions that Walter made included hanging out with a dangerous homeless kid named Frank, skipping school, and lying about the death of his parents to get into the army at the age of 17. Hanging out with Frank did not set good influences for Walter’s life.

Walter met Frank in a park, defending him from getting beaten up by other kids. From that day forward Walter’s life went downhill. It went down so quickly that Walter didn’t even realize that he was falling; it was like a strike of lightning. Frank convinced Walter to take a job with him. This job was really bad, because it dealt with delivering drugs!  The apartment Walter walked into with Frank was used for drugs because it was filthy; there were women “skin popping” with heroin in the other room, and darkness in every room. This was a dangerous situation for anyone, much less a teenager.  Another way Frank affected Walter's life is when he made Walter believe that it was acceptable to skip school. Walter figured since his buddy Frank didn’t go to school, he didn’t have to either. So Walter stopped going to school like it wasn’t important. Skipping school like his homeless friend was most definitely the STUPIDEST thing Walter could have done. Most kids would realize when a homeless kid tells you skipping school is fine, not to listen to that advice. Walter Dean Myers made an irresponsible decision and never realized it until it was too late. Not going to school made Walter waste his potential to do great things!

Walter spent weeks missing school to hang out in the park and read. Stuyvesant, the high school where Walter was enrolled, started notifying his parents, that he was missing school. Walter would steal these notes before his parents got home, pull out his typewriter that his father gave him, and would forge his mother’s signature. One day, Walter actually decided to go to school. At school he was told to bring in Florence Dean, his mom, so that the school could talk with her personally. When Florence came to school she told them how Walter was “disturbed” because of the Scarlett Fever he had gotten when he was eight. This placed Walter under the watch of a city agency and included counseling with Dr. Holiday at Bellevue. One last way skipping school affected Walter’s life is that Walter didn’t receive his high school diploma because time got away from him and he missed his graduation.  It was such a shame that Walter had to drop out because he was so intelligent. To prove this, he practically skipped a grade in middle school, taking 7^th and 8^th grade in one year. With no high school diploma, Walter thought that joining the army was the right choice.  However, he was too young to join, so guess what he did?

Walter Dean Myers decided to lie, AGAIN! He told the army that both of his parents were dead in order to get accepted before the age of 18, even though they were sitting at home perfectly healthy.  I don’t think Walter realized the seriousness of this lie. He lied just to get his way into the army and escape his problems.  I don’t think Walter realized the negative impact on his mother.  Florence was devastated that Walter would lie about such a thing as death. Honestly, who would lie about their parents' death just to get acceptance somewhere? Walter should be grateful his parents were alive. Also Florence had such a short time to prepare for Walter leaving, and a short time to persuade him to stay home with his family. Walter had literally told his mom he had joined the army the day he was leaving. Lastly, I don’t think Walter took the army seriously.  He could have goofed around during a war and gotten shot or killed.  I think Walter should have thought twice before deciding to join the Army which is strict and serious.

Some people might say that Walter’s life was great because he is now a famous well known author, but I disagree 100% because of how he treated his education. Walter made many bad decisions in his life such as, hanging out with a homeless kid named Frank who went to jail for murder, skipping school which led to failure, and lying about his parents' death just so he could join the army a year earlier.  In his childhood years, I don’t think Walter Dean Myers learned how to think before he acted. What matters is that Walter, finally, did change and for the better. His book sends a message for kids not to make the same mistakes, and to take advantage of the opportunities a good education provides.