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What They Found: Love on 145th Street
By the groundbreaking author of the award-winning Monster– a visionary who influenced and inspired a generation–this story take us back to the world of 145th Street: Short Stories to show how love can be found, and thrive, in the most unlikely places.
Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive in a war he doesn't want to fight, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. There is the "good daughter" who realizes that there's only one way to help her brother and her family. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion.
AWARDS FOR WALTER DEAN MYERS:
New York Times Bestselling Author
3-Time National Book Award Finalist
Michael L. Printz Award
5 Coretta Scott King Awards
2 Newbery Honors
National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (2012-2013)
Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement
Children’s Literature Legacy Award
Curtis finds love in Iraq as he struggles to stay alive in a war he doesn't want to fight, and Letha discovers her own beauty in the love of her child. There is the "good daughter" who realizes that there's only one way to help her brother and her family. Other stories center on the daily drama of the Curl-E-Que beauty shop, or capture the slapstick side of passion.
AWARDS FOR WALTER DEAN MYERS:
New York Times Bestselling Author
3-Time National Book Award Finalist
Michael L. Printz Award
5 Coretta Scott King Awards
2 Newbery Honors
National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (2012-2013)
Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement
Children’s Literature Legacy Award
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 11, 2007
49 people are currently reading
895 people want to read
About the author
Walter Dean Myers
232 books1,182 followerspseudonyms:
Stacie Williams
Stacie Johnson
Walter Dean Myers was born on August 12, 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia but moved to Harlem with his foster parents at age three. He was brought up and went to public school there. He attended Stuyvesant High School until the age of seventeen when he joined the army.
After serving four years in the army, he worked at various jobs and earned a BA from Empire State College. He wrote full time after 1977.
Walter wrote from childhood, first finding success in 1969 when he won the Council on Interracial Books for Children contest, which resulted in the publication of his first book for children, Where Does the Day Go?, by Parent's Magazine Press. He published over seventy books for children and young adults. He received many awards for his work in this field including the Coretta Scott King Award, five times. Two of his books were awarded Newbery Honors. He was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award and the Virginia Hamilton Award. For one of his books, Monster, he received the first Michael Printz Award for Young Adult literature awarded by the American Library Association. Monster and Autobiography of My Dead Brother were selected as National Book Award Finalists.
In addition to the publication of his books, Walter contributed to educational and literary publications. He visited schools to speak to children, teachers, librarians, and parents. For three years he led a writing workshop for children in a school in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Walter Dean Myers was married, had three grown children and lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. He died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness. He was 76 years old.
Stacie Williams
Stacie Johnson
Walter Dean Myers was born on August 12, 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia but moved to Harlem with his foster parents at age three. He was brought up and went to public school there. He attended Stuyvesant High School until the age of seventeen when he joined the army.
After serving four years in the army, he worked at various jobs and earned a BA from Empire State College. He wrote full time after 1977.
Walter wrote from childhood, first finding success in 1969 when he won the Council on Interracial Books for Children contest, which resulted in the publication of his first book for children, Where Does the Day Go?, by Parent's Magazine Press. He published over seventy books for children and young adults. He received many awards for his work in this field including the Coretta Scott King Award, five times. Two of his books were awarded Newbery Honors. He was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award and the Virginia Hamilton Award. For one of his books, Monster, he received the first Michael Printz Award for Young Adult literature awarded by the American Library Association. Monster and Autobiography of My Dead Brother were selected as National Book Award Finalists.
In addition to the publication of his books, Walter contributed to educational and literary publications. He visited schools to speak to children, teachers, librarians, and parents. For three years he led a writing workshop for children in a school in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Walter Dean Myers was married, had three grown children and lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. He died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness. He was 76 years old.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 170 reviews
November 18, 2012
Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
I really enjoyed 145TH STREET: SHORT STORIES when it came out quite a few years ago, so I was anxious to read this new collection of stories. Once again, Walter Dean Myers takes readers into the world on 145th Street. WHAT THEY FOUND revisits the characters of the previous short stories and updates their lives.
The central theme of WHAT THEY FOUND is love. Each story shares a relationship - romantic love, sibling love, parental love, and more. The stories are flavored with Harlem life as only Myers is able to capture.
There's the frustration of loving a brother who is a constant disappointment to the family. Leading a life of drugs and crime takes its toll on love.
There are relationships in the making and relationships beginning to crumble. Myers describes the tough love of women raising babies alone or trying everything to hang onto the father of a child. Some relationships beat the odds stacked against them, while others continue to exist only in dreams.
The final chapter attempts to explain the frightening need for love while facing the world beyond our own front yard. A young soldier from the Harlem neighborhood struggles to survive physically and emotionally in the middle of the violence in Afghanistan. Love offers an oasis from the horrors of war.
Each chapter shares a story and many of them overlap and intertwine as readers are reacquainted with the neighborhood of 145th Street. WHAT THEY FOUND is a welcome companion to the first collection or stands very strongly on its own.
I really enjoyed 145TH STREET: SHORT STORIES when it came out quite a few years ago, so I was anxious to read this new collection of stories. Once again, Walter Dean Myers takes readers into the world on 145th Street. WHAT THEY FOUND revisits the characters of the previous short stories and updates their lives.
The central theme of WHAT THEY FOUND is love. Each story shares a relationship - romantic love, sibling love, parental love, and more. The stories are flavored with Harlem life as only Myers is able to capture.
There's the frustration of loving a brother who is a constant disappointment to the family. Leading a life of drugs and crime takes its toll on love.
There are relationships in the making and relationships beginning to crumble. Myers describes the tough love of women raising babies alone or trying everything to hang onto the father of a child. Some relationships beat the odds stacked against them, while others continue to exist only in dreams.
The final chapter attempts to explain the frightening need for love while facing the world beyond our own front yard. A young soldier from the Harlem neighborhood struggles to survive physically and emotionally in the middle of the violence in Afghanistan. Love offers an oasis from the horrors of war.
Each chapter shares a story and many of them overlap and intertwine as readers are reacquainted with the neighborhood of 145th Street. WHAT THEY FOUND is a welcome companion to the first collection or stands very strongly on its own.
December 18, 2008
A collection of short stories from one of the great authors. These stories are all about love; husband-wife; parent-child; siblings; neighbors and friends. The stories work great separately for readings and also paint one large mosaic picture of Harlem and this community. Readers who liked Street Love will like seeing characters they are already familiar with.
February 11, 2018
This is a companion to Walter Dean Myers' 145th Street: Short Stories . By the time I received my copy of What They Found: Love on 145th Street and found out about the former, it was already too late. Although I wasn't impressed by the first story in What They Found, the stories that followed got better, so I decided to bump my original rating of 3 stars to 4. This notable collection features 15 short stories that illustrate different kinds of love and how it can be found in unlikely places. Sometimes funny and sometimes sad, these stories celebrate the life, love, and sorrow of a community and its people.
May 6, 2013
Elizabeth Jose
Myers, W. D. (2007). What they found: Love on 145th street. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.
Genre: Short Stories
Format: Print
Selection Process: Goodreads
“What They Found: Love on 145th Street”, is a series of strategically written short stories about the lives of the people who live in Harlem, New York, where lives can sometimes be found to be cold, hard, empty and desperate, yet also inspired and touched with glimmers of hope by the people around them. Through all of this, they all experience love in various ways, seeing it through different lenses.
Walter Dean Myers, author of the book, manages to seamlessly weave the tales of the characters of all different ages, from one story to another. Some are witty and wise, others, foolish and bitter. Yet in each of these individuals are seen the fragility of human nature that grounds them when it comes to love. Tough guys shed tears, quiet introverts find bravado, and big talkers find that the cat has got their tongue, all in the name of “love” in one form or another.
The stories are filled with character and personality from beginning to end. While reading the stories, I found myself transported back to the younger days of my education when I spent time at a magnet school of a large metropolitan city, and was exposed to people from all walks of life. I saw myself sitting and reading by an open window, hearing the sounds of traffic and people walking by. Feelings of being at home washed over me, and I found myself substituting some of the characters in the book with people I had known growing up. Myers’ ability to create these feelings in the reader is what sets him apart from other authors. There is a certain poignancy portrayed through the pain in the stories, and he makes you feel as if you are a part of it.
For those looking for a different kind of read that will transport you into the bleak, bitter reality others sometimes face, while simultaneously enlightening you to the moments of brightness in a world of darkness, look no further - Myers has exactly what you seek in this collection.
Recommended.
Myers, W. D. (2007). What they found: Love on 145th street. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.
Genre: Short Stories
Format: Print
Selection Process: Goodreads
“What They Found: Love on 145th Street”, is a series of strategically written short stories about the lives of the people who live in Harlem, New York, where lives can sometimes be found to be cold, hard, empty and desperate, yet also inspired and touched with glimmers of hope by the people around them. Through all of this, they all experience love in various ways, seeing it through different lenses.
Walter Dean Myers, author of the book, manages to seamlessly weave the tales of the characters of all different ages, from one story to another. Some are witty and wise, others, foolish and bitter. Yet in each of these individuals are seen the fragility of human nature that grounds them when it comes to love. Tough guys shed tears, quiet introverts find bravado, and big talkers find that the cat has got their tongue, all in the name of “love” in one form or another.
The stories are filled with character and personality from beginning to end. While reading the stories, I found myself transported back to the younger days of my education when I spent time at a magnet school of a large metropolitan city, and was exposed to people from all walks of life. I saw myself sitting and reading by an open window, hearing the sounds of traffic and people walking by. Feelings of being at home washed over me, and I found myself substituting some of the characters in the book with people I had known growing up. Myers’ ability to create these feelings in the reader is what sets him apart from other authors. There is a certain poignancy portrayed through the pain in the stories, and he makes you feel as if you are a part of it.
For those looking for a different kind of read that will transport you into the bleak, bitter reality others sometimes face, while simultaneously enlightening you to the moments of brightness in a world of darkness, look no further - Myers has exactly what you seek in this collection.
Recommended.
Read
April 17, 2013Erika Lawrence
Myers, W.D. (2007). What They Found: Love on 145th street. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
Short Stories
Print
Selection Process: Something About the Author. Detroit: Gale Research
Review
What They Found: Love on 145th street is a compilation of short stories based within a specific location in Harlem. The stories revolve around characters within the surrounding area, including the Evans Beauty Shop. This is a book about a neighborhood and the people that live there. The stories vary from finding first love, to losing a long-time love, to exploring cautionary tales and stories about heroes. Abeni and Noee are sisters who are positive characters that make good decisions and want meaningful lives. They are searching for love, but is it in the wrong place? Pat is only eight years old and takes care of her mother and younger brother. How will Pat continue to carry so much responsibility? Gaylee is an honor student with the goal of attending college. She dates Malcom and finds out that he is hiding something that could change her future. Calvin is having troubles but he thinks the best way to handle it is through violence. Corporal Curtis Mason is deployed to Afghanistan and wonders if he will make it back home as he watches soldiers around him lose their lives. These short stories are well written and vividly described. This book is recommended to those in their late teens that enjoy young adult literature and short stories.
Myers, W.D. (2007). What They Found: Love on 145th street. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
Short Stories
Selection Process: Something About the Author. Detroit: Gale Research
Review
What They Found: Love on 145th street is a compilation of short stories based within a specific location in Harlem. The stories revolve around characters within the surrounding area, including the Evans Beauty Shop. This is a book about a neighborhood and the people that live there. The stories vary from finding first love, to losing a long-time love, to exploring cautionary tales and stories about heroes. Abeni and Noee are sisters who are positive characters that make good decisions and want meaningful lives. They are searching for love, but is it in the wrong place? Pat is only eight years old and takes care of her mother and younger brother. How will Pat continue to carry so much responsibility? Gaylee is an honor student with the goal of attending college. She dates Malcom and finds out that he is hiding something that could change her future. Calvin is having troubles but he thinks the best way to handle it is through violence. Corporal Curtis Mason is deployed to Afghanistan and wonders if he will make it back home as he watches soldiers around him lose their lives. These short stories are well written and vividly described. This book is recommended to those in their late teens that enjoy young adult literature and short stories.
February 24, 2011
I really loved this book! It's the first I've read from Walter Dean Myers but have heard a lot about his writing. This book was a great first read. This is a collection of short stories with characters all from the same neighborhood - even the same street (145th Street). I loved how all the stories were connected in come way and I got an in-depth look at this neighborhood without a straight storyline directly connecting all the characters. I think students would appreciate this collection because it still has the semblance of one story, similar to The House on Mango Street, which I would likely read in conjunction with this book. The writing was beautiful and realistic and I think the stories were interesting no matter where you're from, but present characters that inner-city students don't often see.
February 23, 2010
While reading this book, which is a collection of short stories, I was drawn in by the interesting, diverse lives of people all coming from the same place. It shows you that though you may come from the same place as other people, you have the advantage of making your own story. The book was well written, and being a ninth grader I don't know if that means much. I would definitely read the book again and probably find something new that I hadn't seen before. It's the first time in a while that I have sat down and really read a book. Of course, based in the title of the book, all the stories had love in them. Some type of love story seems to always have to be in a book or a movie, which to me makes it so cliche, but for this book I can make an exception.
August 17, 2008
Fifteen short stories and there wasn't one I didn't like. My favorite was Madonna, the touching story of a teenage mother raising her nine month old son alone:
Letha wanted to know what it was like to have sex, then immediately regretted the choice she had made. Her first time wasn't about love, but she had much love for the child that was conceived. Being poor didn't stop her from taking care of Amari. She did the best she could with what little she had because her son meant the world to her. But although she loved Amari more than anything, she thought of herself as 'nothing special'. It took, Billy Carroll, another teen in the neighborhood, to help her to see her good qualities.
Letha wanted to know what it was like to have sex, then immediately regretted the choice she had made. Her first time wasn't about love, but she had much love for the child that was conceived. Being poor didn't stop her from taking care of Amari. She did the best she could with what little she had because her son meant the world to her. But although she loved Amari more than anything, she thought of herself as 'nothing special'. It took, Billy Carroll, another teen in the neighborhood, to help her to see her good qualities.
Read
November 1, 2011I have read only the first story in this collection titled"the fashion show,bar-b-que,grand opening memorial service"I personally think that the theme is that people have a different way of celebrating death, for example having a church ceremonial or like in this case they have a grand opening of a beauty salon and a bar-b-que celebration for Mr.Evans.This explains that i personally think that the theme is everyone has a special way of doing the celebration of death.
November 20, 2015
Considering there wasn't even a hint of a talking rodent, robot or spaceship in this book, I liked it a lot.
Linked short stories - some heart-breakingly sad, some light and funny. A major character in one story might be a minor character in the next.
And available as an ebook from the Ottawa Public Library.
Linked short stories - some heart-breakingly sad, some light and funny. A major character in one story might be a minor character in the next.
And available as an ebook from the Ottawa Public Library.
April 5, 2008
This is a collection of short stories taking place in Harlem in the famed neighborhood of 145th/147th Street.
I like how Myers linked the characters and stories together even though they were told by many different people from the neighborhood.
I like how Myers linked the characters and stories together even though they were told by many different people from the neighborhood.
November 19, 2018
Despite having heard good things about this book for quite some time, this was my first reading of What They Found: Love on 145th Street by Walter Dean Myers. The work managed to do a spectacular job portraying the endless variations that love takes, while also exploring a wide range of characters and situations. I was impressed by the expert control that Myers held in the case of spinning realistic and relatable characters and emotions.
The first aspect of this piece that I found intriguing was its formatting as a collection of short stories, delving into the minds and sentiments of an assortment of characters. This stands in stark contrast to the typical choice of simply following the tale of a single protagonist on their journey to discover love. Through the short story collection, Myers is able to make the case that love is universal. While it may look different for each individual, it is an emotion that can be found anywhere and between any combination of persons, from Harlem to Iraq, from one background to another.
Additionally, I was quite impressed with Myers’s ability to create female characters with life and agency. After reading a wide range of works written by men from the perspective of a female character, I have noticed and heard through various interviews that it is no easy task to accurately portray women. Myers does an exceptional job of not simply creating a single believable female narrator, but multiple, each with their own unique personality and story. The author manages to give dimension to both the men and women in the work as the shift in perspective from male to female characters is seamless and equally well-executed.
Finally, the way in which love is described and shown throughout the collection of short stories feels organic and authentic. There is great variety in the ways in which love is given, received, and interpreted among the characters, staying truer to life than the textbook definition and stereotypes of what love looks like. The short stories all display love in diverse settings and moments in characters’ lives, speaking to the malleability of love and romantic connections between individuals. Each character is shown in a different part of live, with a vastly different relationship and emotional footing with their significant other.
The first aspect of this piece that I found intriguing was its formatting as a collection of short stories, delving into the minds and sentiments of an assortment of characters. This stands in stark contrast to the typical choice of simply following the tale of a single protagonist on their journey to discover love. Through the short story collection, Myers is able to make the case that love is universal. While it may look different for each individual, it is an emotion that can be found anywhere and between any combination of persons, from Harlem to Iraq, from one background to another.
Additionally, I was quite impressed with Myers’s ability to create female characters with life and agency. After reading a wide range of works written by men from the perspective of a female character, I have noticed and heard through various interviews that it is no easy task to accurately portray women. Myers does an exceptional job of not simply creating a single believable female narrator, but multiple, each with their own unique personality and story. The author manages to give dimension to both the men and women in the work as the shift in perspective from male to female characters is seamless and equally well-executed.
Finally, the way in which love is described and shown throughout the collection of short stories feels organic and authentic. There is great variety in the ways in which love is given, received, and interpreted among the characters, staying truer to life than the textbook definition and stereotypes of what love looks like. The short stories all display love in diverse settings and moments in characters’ lives, speaking to the malleability of love and romantic connections between individuals. Each character is shown in a different part of live, with a vastly different relationship and emotional footing with their significant other.
June 15, 2021
Walk with Walter Dean Myers down 145th Street and become reacquainted with the families who live there. These characters don't take love for granted. Myers explores the kinds of love that can be found everywhere and how it affects the lives of the people who experience it.
In Mama, an eight-year-old child takes care of her four-year-old brother and her mother who has AIDS. Her only reward is their love. A man has worked his entire life for the family he loves. Now that he is about to die he has one more gift to give them. He has an unusual plan to help them get a family business going by using his own bar-b-que memorial service as a kick off for its introduction to the neighborhood.
A young girl must make the choice between college and the man of her dreams. In pursuing the life he needs, the man of her dreams crushes the life of a former girl friend. In What Would Jesus Do?, Evelyn plans to be a virgin when she marries just as the church teaches. Cheryl's love for her friend pushes them apart as Cheryl tries to make sure that Evelyn's fiancé is worthy of her. Other stories use humor, passion and heartbreaking devotion to define love. Powerful and fulfilling, these tales will stay with readers long after they've been read.
This is the second book of short stories Myers has written about 145th Street. Random House is reissuing his first book, 145th Street: Short Stories, where he first introduces the people there. Walter Dean Myers, the author of more than fifty books, is a two-time Newbery Honor winner and a five-time winner of the Coretta School King Award. His other awards include the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.
This review was first on www.bookloons.com.
In Mama, an eight-year-old child takes care of her four-year-old brother and her mother who has AIDS. Her only reward is their love. A man has worked his entire life for the family he loves. Now that he is about to die he has one more gift to give them. He has an unusual plan to help them get a family business going by using his own bar-b-que memorial service as a kick off for its introduction to the neighborhood.
A young girl must make the choice between college and the man of her dreams. In pursuing the life he needs, the man of her dreams crushes the life of a former girl friend. In What Would Jesus Do?, Evelyn plans to be a virgin when she marries just as the church teaches. Cheryl's love for her friend pushes them apart as Cheryl tries to make sure that Evelyn's fiancé is worthy of her. Other stories use humor, passion and heartbreaking devotion to define love. Powerful and fulfilling, these tales will stay with readers long after they've been read.
This is the second book of short stories Myers has written about 145th Street. Random House is reissuing his first book, 145th Street: Short Stories, where he first introduces the people there. Walter Dean Myers, the author of more than fifty books, is a two-time Newbery Honor winner and a five-time winner of the Coretta School King Award. His other awards include the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.
This review was first on www.bookloons.com.
Currently reading
March 11, 2020I personally enjoyed this book. It's a collection of different stories of people that live in the same area in New York. It's really good for people that have a short attention span or for people that don't consistently read, because you don't have to have a perfect memory of what happened the last time you read. You get a general mood and theme from each story, and you carry what you learn in each story to the next. The final story is of Curtiss and Marian, two soldiers in Afghanistan. They are shot at, and Marian is wounded. This leads to the two of them confessing their feelings for each other. I would recommend this book to people that understand the culture of Harlem in New York because the dialects were a little bit difficult to understand as someone in the midwest. I still think the lessons are applicable to anyone because it teaches the reader how lives and love intertwine.
September 9, 2025
11/243
the girl dad passed away and it was just her mom, sister, and her and her.Dad had save up money for them to open their dream shop. When he passed away they bought their new shop and had his funeral at the shop but her mom couldn't speak because she was filled with emotions. But as she was crying one of the guys that her husband had helped out talk for her talk about how kind of a soul he had for him and how her husband was basically his safe safe and not to joust him a lot of people. my opinion on this book is that I can relate to to them having a hard time with someone passing away and my dad had passed away to so i can feel there pain through the book . I chose this book because it is about love I mean who doesn't love '' love ''i thing I just can relate to her in so many ways.
the girl dad passed away and it was just her mom, sister, and her and her.Dad had save up money for them to open their dream shop. When he passed away they bought their new shop and had his funeral at the shop but her mom couldn't speak because she was filled with emotions. But as she was crying one of the guys that her husband had helped out talk for her talk about how kind of a soul he had for him and how her husband was basically his safe safe and not to joust him a lot of people. my opinion on this book is that I can relate to to them having a hard time with someone passing away and my dad had passed away to so i can feel there pain through the book . I chose this book because it is about love I mean who doesn't love '' love ''i thing I just can relate to her in so many ways.
April 22, 2019
This book was very interesting, the way that the book was switching fromn story to story was kind of confusing though. I like that the book was straight foward and the characters really showed emotion and the words used to show emotion were very powerful. A change I would make if I could would be that the characters could've shared their thouaghts and the narrator should have shown how each character felt and when they felt it or with who. I think that people who like real life drama and people who love the excitment and thrill of the teenage years of their life and the many things that they felt with others.
October 1, 2022
3.5 stars
I've been wanting to read this book for a while and I finally got around to doing so. Not gonna lie, it was a bit of a letdown. For some reason I wasn't aware that this book was a work of short stories and while I did enjoy a lot of them, it left the book with an overall disjointed feel. The dialogue wasn't particularly natural at times and certain scenarios were almost too comical to believe. Anyway enough complaining. There were some beautifully written stories and I'll list them below:
✿Mama
✿Burn
✿Jump At The Sun
✿The Man Thing
✿Marisol and Skeeter (I could have read an entire book about these two)
I've been wanting to read this book for a while and I finally got around to doing so. Not gonna lie, it was a bit of a letdown. For some reason I wasn't aware that this book was a work of short stories and while I did enjoy a lot of them, it left the book with an overall disjointed feel. The dialogue wasn't particularly natural at times and certain scenarios were almost too comical to believe. Anyway enough complaining. There were some beautifully written stories and I'll list them below:
✿Mama
✿Burn
✿Jump At The Sun
✿The Man Thing
✿Marisol and Skeeter (I could have read an entire book about these two)
February 28, 2020
Short stories that take place in and around 145th street and the people that live there. The stories range from young love between teens to unrequited love and love of a child to love at war. Each story stands on its own but they also occasionally have overlapping characters.
Walter Dean Myers is one of my favorite authors and this collection of short stories continues to stay true to his writing style and plot choices. I would say this is more well suited to late-year 8th graders and high school readers.
Walter Dean Myers is one of my favorite authors and this collection of short stories continues to stay true to his writing style and plot choices. I would say this is more well suited to late-year 8th graders and high school readers.
October 24, 2019
The book is about a family who recently had to deal with death. To coop with it they started up a business together as their dead family member wanted. The "funeral" was a big stepping stone in a spark of romance. The romance was between a soldier named Curtis Mason and Cheryl McKinney. They helped each other with their individual problems. Curtis has to fight a war that he doesn't want to and Cheryl has to move on from my father's death.
July 12, 2021
In this collection of short vignettes that are all interconnected we meet a community of characters whose lives are all intertwined through love, tragedy and family. I loved these stories although as a teacher they did seem a bit dated and might not connect with the kids as well. However, everything Walter Dean Myers writes usually connects with kids in some way so I am probably wrong here.! I would love to use the stories individually in my class.
June 1, 2020
This is beautiful! Short stories that overlap and integrate and also stand alone. Stories of a neighborhood. Such a myriad of experiences. I am so glad to be able to provide this abundance of lived experiences with my rural, isolated high school students.
April 16, 2019
I definitely feel like I should have read something before this?? I felt like I was missing a prerequisite. However, didn’t stop me from enjoying the stories and the writing.
December 2, 2012
The book What They Found:Love on 145th Street by Walter Dean Myers is a book that contains several short stories. The stories involve different characters but they all take place in the same general area; Harlem, New York, on 145th Street. The stories all relate to a common theme: love. There’s stories about all kinds of love; parent-child, husband-wife, friends, siblings, and neighbors.
In the story called “Madonna” it tells how a young single mother, Letha, learns to love her baby, Amiri. Letha is only 16 years old, and doesn’t see herself as anything special or pretty. She has to work through tough situations in her life. “Money don’t come knocking on your door if you poor and black.” Letha struggles to find enough money to support her and her son, Amiri. But, with help from her good friend and artist, Billy Carroll, she finds out how important her son is and finds happiness through her son. Billy paid Letha $40 so he could paint a picture of Letha holding Amiri. The picture portrays how happy Letha looks when she’s with her child. “Sometimes, when things get bad for me and Amiri, I pick him up and stand in front of the mirror and I can see just how we looked in Billy’s picture. When I look in the mirror I can see just how much I love Amiri the same way that BIlly saw it. Knowing that Billy, that someone can look inside of you and see something good is worth more than the forty dollars he gave me. It is.”
In another story called “Combat Zone” a man named Curtis Martin finds love fighting in Afghanistan. Curtis doesn’t want to fight in the war anymore and he has to deal with tough assignments that he doesn’t like. He meets a charming and kind woman named Marian who works in Special Ops with Curtis. In this story, Curtis, Marian, and other Special Ops soldiers were on an assignment to take bags of seed to a region near Baghlan. As they are delivering the seeds, someone fires at the soldiers’ truck. The shooting continues and the Special Ops soldiers struggle to escape. Although it was very risky, Curtis rushes back into a building that Marian was trapped in and risks his life to save Marian. “There might never be a complete understanding of what they had shared in those frantic moments, or what they had given up of themselves. Or what they had found.” Even though this conflict was extremely dangerous and unfortunate, Curtis found his love through it.
I think the message of this book is great. It shows that love can be found and thrive in unlikely places. I liked how even though the stories had different plots and characters, they all connected to the theme and message. For example, Curtis finds love during the war as he’s struggling to survive and Letha finds love and happiness through her child even though they are living in tough situations. The stories were linked together well and they all took place in the same neighborhood so you could get a good picture of all the characters’ lives. The characters go through very tough situations, but in the end, they all come to a solution. The stories might not always end happy, but it’s only reality. Life isn’t always fair and perfectly happy.
In a way, I compare this book to Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Although the settings and characters are very different, the general concept is the same. The characters find unlikely love that with work, can thrive. The characters both have to make difficult decisions and face tough situations in order to make their love happen. This book is also similar to 145th Street: Short Stories by Walter Dean Myers. This book is by the same author, takes place in the same setting, and even has some of the same characters.
When I read this book, I thought some of the stories were a little confusing in the beginnings because it was hard to understand the characters. I didn’t realize this until I finished the book, but there was a book written before this one called 145th Street: Short Stories. This book took place in the same place as What They Found: Love on 145th Street and some of the characters were introduced in the first book. I think if I read 145th Street: Short Stories before, I would’ve had a better idea of the setting (145th Street) and the characters.
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars because it was very well written and inspiring. I really liked Walter Dean Myers’s writing because it was captivating and kept your attention. However, this book was a little difficult to understand at times. Because there were multiple stories, you had to think about different characters and their lives every story and it sometimes got confusing. This was the first book that I’ve read that had different stories in it. It was a good experience to read something new, but I prefer when a story has single story with the same characters.
October 10, 2012
I really loved this book! It's the first I've read from Walter Dean Myers but have heard a lot about his writing. This book was a great first read. This is a collection of short stories with characters all from the same neighborhood - even the same street (145th Street). I loved how all the stories were connected in come way and I got an in-depth look at this neighborhood without a straight storyline directly connecting all the characters.
On 145th Street, the Curl-E-Que Beauty Shop serves as a loose nexus for both the community members and their stories. Cheryl tries to seduce her best friend's boyfriend to help her determine if he is a good catch; Calvin reconsiders his attempts to buy a gun after visiting a prison; Abeni learns that she achieved short film fame by breaking up with her boyfriend on camera. In a series of vignettes, Myers spins tales of promising athletes, desperate mothers, and misguided adolescents. The final story takes Corporal Curtis Mason from the neighborhood to Afghanistan.
I chose this book to read because it fitted into the category of a book about a different culture and I find that category intresting because I learn about people's diffrent lifestyles. My favorite quote from this book is "There might never be a complete understanding of what they had shared in those frantic moments, or what they had given up of themselves. Or what they had found."This quote says a lot about all the characters in the stories because even through their frantic lives of challenges and struggles, they seem to find something bigger and better through it all. I learned from this book that going to war is very tough and to watch friends die or get hurt would be heartbreaking. My favorite character is Cheryl because she tries to seduce her bestfriend's boyfriend to make sure hes not a player and shes very determined.
On 145th Street, the Curl-E-Que Beauty Shop serves as a loose nexus for both the community members and their stories. Cheryl tries to seduce her best friend's boyfriend to help her determine if he is a good catch; Calvin reconsiders his attempts to buy a gun after visiting a prison; Abeni learns that she achieved short film fame by breaking up with her boyfriend on camera. In a series of vignettes, Myers spins tales of promising athletes, desperate mothers, and misguided adolescents. The final story takes Corporal Curtis Mason from the neighborhood to Afghanistan.
I chose this book to read because it fitted into the category of a book about a different culture and I find that category intresting because I learn about people's diffrent lifestyles. My favorite quote from this book is "There might never be a complete understanding of what they had shared in those frantic moments, or what they had given up of themselves. Or what they had found."This quote says a lot about all the characters in the stories because even through their frantic lives of challenges and struggles, they seem to find something bigger and better through it all. I learned from this book that going to war is very tough and to watch friends die or get hurt would be heartbreaking. My favorite character is Cheryl because she tries to seduce her bestfriend's boyfriend to make sure hes not a player and shes very determined.
April 19, 2016
This book is a collection of fifteen short stories that are intertwined in some way. A main character from one story might show up in another story as a minor character. Each story is tied together because the main character resides on 145th Street in Harlem, NY. Some of the storylines are very sad while others are humorous, but the theme that runs throughout each story is love. How each person finds love is different and each character has to find their own path in life. “Madonna” tells the story of a young, teenage mother who is left to raise her infant son by herself and doesn’t realize her true beauty until someone else shows her through a painting. “Combat Zone” tells the story of a soldier stationed in Afghanistan who does not believe in the war he is fighting, yet finds love with a fellow female soldier and tries to stay alive. “The Fashion Show, Grand Opening, and Bar-b-que Memorial Service” is about a father’s love for his family as he nears the end of his life from terminal cancer and how his family moves forward after his death. “The Man Thing” delves into a teenage boy who knows it is time to take responsibility and become a man because he has fallen in love with a girl and has a two-year old son and how he handles this transition.
I found out after reading this book that it is the second book in a series and some of the characters were introduced in the first book. I wish I would have read the first book before I began this one, but plan to read it soon.
I found out after reading this book that it is the second book in a series and some of the characters were introduced in the first book. I wish I would have read the first book before I began this one, but plan to read it soon.
March 1, 2011
This book of short stories is by Walter Dean Myers. I like this author very much, but was a little disappointed in this book. I will say that the writing got better with every story and my interest increased also. I think if I had read the book, 145th Street, I would have enjoyed this companion book more.
Review from School Library Journal:
On 145th Street, the Curl-E-Que Beauty Shop serves as a loose nexus for both the community members and their stories. Cheryl tries to seduce her best friend's boyfriend to help her determine if he is a good catch; Calvin reconsiders his attempts to buy a gun after visiting a prison; Abeni learns that she achieved short film fame by breaking up with her boyfriend on camera. In a series of vignettes, Myers spins tales of promising athletes, desperate mothers, and misguided adolescents. Readers will find the authentic dialogue appealing, and the sometimes-humorous chapter titles offset the occasionally bleak content. The final story takes Corporal Curtis Mason from the neighborhood to Afghanistan. Though sporadic references to Myers's 145th Street: Short Stories (Delacorte, 2000) appear in this new work, these selections stand alone. Rich in both character and setting, these urban tales combine heartbreak and hope into a vivid tableau of a community.
Review from School Library Journal:
On 145th Street, the Curl-E-Que Beauty Shop serves as a loose nexus for both the community members and their stories. Cheryl tries to seduce her best friend's boyfriend to help her determine if he is a good catch; Calvin reconsiders his attempts to buy a gun after visiting a prison; Abeni learns that she achieved short film fame by breaking up with her boyfriend on camera. In a series of vignettes, Myers spins tales of promising athletes, desperate mothers, and misguided adolescents. Readers will find the authentic dialogue appealing, and the sometimes-humorous chapter titles offset the occasionally bleak content. The final story takes Corporal Curtis Mason from the neighborhood to Afghanistan. Though sporadic references to Myers's 145th Street: Short Stories (Delacorte, 2000) appear in this new work, these selections stand alone. Rich in both character and setting, these urban tales combine heartbreak and hope into a vivid tableau of a community.
July 26, 2012
Myers has given us a real sense of place with this book. I see this is the second book set in 145th Street...I wonder if the two are connected by more than place.
Each chapter is a separate story,with a separate narrator. Myers' ear for conversation and voice shines thru, as each character really does own his or her voice. I felt closest to Abeni and Noe, sisters who lose their beloved father at the very beginning of the book...I think they're in good places by the end. I hope so.
Love, what pretends to be love, what we wish was love. That's what 'they' found...we see many different relationships, or near relationships. But none really measure up to Abeni's and Noe's mom and dad...I don't know if that was the message Myers was hinting at.
We see unwed parents, abandoned mothers and babies. We see dreamers, no-account drifters. We see folks with high standards, ambitions and hearts.
I think the best writing in the book is the last story, about Curtis, hoping to survive his last few weeks in Afghanistan. Myers can write so poignantly about war and what it does to the soldier's heart and head.
Now on to the first book...
Each chapter is a separate story,with a separate narrator. Myers' ear for conversation and voice shines thru, as each character really does own his or her voice. I felt closest to Abeni and Noe, sisters who lose their beloved father at the very beginning of the book...I think they're in good places by the end. I hope so.
Love, what pretends to be love, what we wish was love. That's what 'they' found...we see many different relationships, or near relationships. But none really measure up to Abeni's and Noe's mom and dad...I don't know if that was the message Myers was hinting at.
We see unwed parents, abandoned mothers and babies. We see dreamers, no-account drifters. We see folks with high standards, ambitions and hearts.
I think the best writing in the book is the last story, about Curtis, hoping to survive his last few weeks in Afghanistan. Myers can write so poignantly about war and what it does to the soldier's heart and head.
Now on to the first book...
August 25, 2011
145th Street Stories" is a collection of short tales tied together by the fact that all characters reside on the same street in Harlem. The first story, "Big Joe's Funeral" tells the humorous tale of a Harlem resident who decides to plan his own funeral, while very much alive. He encounters some dissent from his girlfriend's teenaged daughter, but still goes forward with his plans. "Kitty & Mack: A Love Story" is a tale of young love and how life-changing events can alter but not necessarily prevent love from taking its course. "The Fighter" presents the struggle of a down-on-his-luck Mixed martial Arts as he tries to fend for his family. "Angela's Eyes" is a heartbreaking story of a young girl, believed to have psychic powers, due to the fact that her dreams appear to foretell impending death. "The Streak" is the tale of a young man who has a run of good luck after having had a bunch of misfortunes. An elderly resident of the neighborhood teaches a hesitant white policeman about life in "A Christmas Story". The last story, "145th Street Block Party" brings all the main characters together."
November 1, 2011
I have only read the first story in this collection, titled "the fashion show, bar-b-que, and grand opening memorial service." One theme of this story is... My message to me was to care and be there for others.To do things that you know you might not be able to, even if you don't have the person that you need. From the story Dad was there for the girl trough everything when dad died he left a running start to the three ladies he loved. I think the ladies (daughters and wife) were not ready to start with a business but even tough they didn't have the support. The family didn't give up after dads death they kept going with their business they tried their hardest to keep their life's going and be brave without dad.The girls had people who helped them all the people that loved Mr.Evans, Mr.Evans was there for a lot of people and they appreciated it. Be there for people when you need people to help you. If your're their for people, people will most likely be there fro you too. Try challenging things with or without support you will some how get trough it by your self or with people you need to be there for you, you won't always have that person with you.
November 1, 2011
I have only read the first story in this collection,titled"the fashion show,bar-b-que,and grand opening memorial service."One theme of this story is.....the theme of this is story was taking a challenge even tough you don't have the person that you really need for support. About this story i thought it was interesting story.At first some stories were confusing but then i read over again and it made more sense.I think that was the theme of the story because even tough they were missing the person that mostly had the responsibility in the family the rest of the family did not give up at all.The mother and daughters had to realize that that person was not going to be their the whole time and help them to keep everything in the way everything needed to be.I it was also a good book because they all new what responsibility they had to have at some point in life and not always have someone to get everything of what they want for themselves.But the important part was that the family supported each other in positive ways.
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