Christopher Myers - His Life and Work
Photo Credit: The Public Library of Cincinnati
Beginnings and Influences
Christopher Myers was born and raised in New York. He is the son and collaborator of acclaimed children's author, Walter Dean Myers. His influences include his parents' and grandparents' black and white family photographs. Both his father and grandfather were natural storytellers and models for Myers, who considers himself a third generation storyteller. He believes passionately that the best stories are your own and that everyone has a story to tell. He says "I see my job as telling stories about my neighbourhood; about where I come from; about where I grew up; about people that I've met..." (Reading Rocket, 2010). But for Myers, with the role of storyteller comes the responsibility to represent black people as they are and as he sees them, not as they are often portrayed in the mass media (Reading Rocket, 2010).
Christopher Myers was born and raised in New York. He is the son and collaborator of acclaimed children's author, Walter Dean Myers. His influences include his parents' and grandparents' black and white family photographs. Both his father and grandfather were natural storytellers and models for Myers, who considers himself a third generation storyteller. He believes passionately that the best stories are your own and that everyone has a story to tell. He says "I see my job as telling stories about my neighbourhood; about where I come from; about where I grew up; about people that I've met..." (Reading Rocket, 2010). But for Myers, with the role of storyteller comes the responsibility to represent black people as they are and as he sees them, not as they are often portrayed in the mass media (Reading Rocket, 2010).
Education and Experience
Myers graduated from Brown University and participated in the prestigious Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. His media include photos, collages and woodcuts. He began working with his father, illustrating Dean Myers' books, such as Harlem, which earned the title of a Caldecott Honor Book in 1998. He has gone on to write and illustrate his own books, such as Black Cat, which in 2000, was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. In addition to being an artist and illustrator, Myers is also a clothing designer.
Beliefs
"I don't feel that my job is simply to support his text. I feel that my job is to tell a different story that intertwines with his. Our stories overlap, compare and contrast in very interesting ways." (TeachingBooks.net, 2006, p.1). Myers believes that a story and its teller must have a sense of purpose, such as the transmission of values, righting past wrongs or teaching children something about themselves, such as their self worth (TeachingBooks.net, 2006, p.1).