Multicultural Genre "All the Right Stuff" by Walter D. Myers

Myers, Walter D. All the Right Stuff. New York: Amistad, 2012. Print; IBSN: 978-0-06-196087-1; Hardcopy Price $17.99.

Annotation 

With his father recently passed away and his road to adulthood fast approaching, Paul took to working in a soup kitchen over summer. There, he meets Elijah, a cook with his own views on life, and what is known as "The Social Contract."

 

Awards

• As the cover of the book shows, it has won the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.

Book Talk

Paul is a young man trying to figure out what he wants in life. Volunteering in a soup kitchen, he meets Elijah who introduces the young to the social contract and what it is all about. Throughout the book, Paul becomes introduced to new aspects of the social contract and encounters how it applies to the people around him, from a street tough named Sly, to a basket ball playing, teenage mother named Keisha. Elijah outlined the social contract for Paul in ways of taking another person’s ham sandwich, and creating soup. How Paul interprets the unorthodox explanations of this old soup kitchen employee remains to be seen. One thing is certain; Paul just might learn something about his society and himself in the end.

Interview with the author