Bad Boy: A Memoir

These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the memoir.

Pre-Reading “Icebreaker”

Have you ever read a book that greatly influenced your sense of who you are or who you want to be? If not, can you think of a movie, song, or other piece of art that had such an effect? Discuss how and why that work influenced you.

Teaching Suggestion: Bad Boy is as much about Myers’s artistic and intellectual development as anything else: He begins reading at a young age, and the literature he reads, in his words, shows him “the canvas of [his] own humanity” (Chapter 19). This prompt asks students to consider how the books (or movies, music, etc.) they engage with help them better understand their own identity and sense of community belonging.

• “Why It’s Important for Kids to See Themselves in Books”: 2018 Scholastic article by early childhood educator Jodie Rodriguez discussing how literature can solidify identity 

Personal Response Prompt

Throughout Bad Boy, Myers references and discusses famous works of literature. Did any of these descriptions especially stand out to you (or even make you want to read the work itself)? If so, what interested you? If not, why not?

Teaching Suggestion: Myers’s memoir spans his high school years, so many of the works he talks about are slightly above a middle grade reading level (at least without support). However, regardless of whether students go on to read any of the works Myers mentions, his reflections on these works can help students continue to think about what they value in literature (and in cultural production and language generally). Below are some of the more accessible works Myers discusses.

• “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798 poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge) on SuperSummary
• “Sonny’s Blues” (1957 short story by James Baldwin) on SuperSummary (content warning: discussions of drug use and dependency)
• The Prince and the Pauper (1881 novel by Mark Twain) on SuperSummary

Post-Reading Analysis

Both the book’s title, Bad Boy, and its fifth chapter reference a scolding Myers received from one of his teachers, Mrs. Conway. Why do you think Myers drew upon this episode for his memoir’s title? In what sense is Myers “bad” as a child and teenager, and why does he act the way he does?

Teaching Suggestion: Students’ responses to this prompt may go in several different directions; much of Myers’s misbehavior (especially as he grows older) reflects his frustration with systemic racism and classism, but there are other factors as well, including the challenges associated with his speech impediment and what Myers says might now be called his “hyperactive” personality (Chapter 19). Depending on students’ answers, you can therefore use this prompt to spark discussion about issues ranging from being Black in midcentury America to the power and limitations of language. Regardless, the common thread is the idea of “bad” behavior as a response to environmental circumstances rather than as a character flaw.